Ann Perkins
| The Beautiful Ann Perkins | |
|---|---|
| Parks and Recreation character | |
 |
|
| First appearance | "Pilot" |
| Last appearance | "Ann and Chris" (regular) "One Last Ride" (guest appearance) |
| Portrayed by | Rashida Jones |
| Information | |
| Occupation |
Nurse Health Department Public Relations Director of Pawnee, Indiana |
| Spouse(s) | Chris Traeger |
| Children | Oliver Perkins-Traeger Leslie Perkins-Traeger |
Ann Meredith Perkins, RN (born July 21, 1976 and portrayed by Rashida Jones) is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is a nurse and Leslie Knope's best friend.
At the start of the series, Ann Perkins was dating Andy Dwyer, her live-in boyfriend. Ann matured faster than Andy did and, while Ann entered into a career in nursing, Andy remained lazy, spoiled, and unemployed. After Andy falls into a large pit next to her house and breaks his legs, Ann is inspired to attend Parks and Recreation meetings to advocate for filling in the pit, which leads Ann to befriend the department's deputy director Leslie Knope. Eventually, after Andy's leg casts are removed, Ann learns he could have taken them off weeks prior, but did not because he enjoyed being pampered and spoiled by Ann. This leads to an angry confrontation, and eventually the two break up, much to Andy's despair.
After Andy, Pawnee city planner Mark fell into the construction pit (at the end of season one) and is nursed by Ann during his time at the hospital. The two develop a romantic interest in each other and start dating only after Leslie, who previously harbored feelings for Mark, assures Ann she is fine with the pairing. At first, Ann seems to be happy with Mark, but as time goes on, she starts getting bored having a normal and healthy relationship, remembering that her relationship with Andy, while terrible, was more interesting. Furthermore, she shows a hint of jealousy toward Andy's budding relationship with April. However, she continues to date Mark unsure of what her true feelings are for him. Yet, when Mark attempts to propose to her, she realises that her feelings for Mark have left and wants to be with Andy. She and Mark break up, and Mark leaves his government job to work in the private sector. In the season finale episode, after Andy crashes his motorcycle, Ann kisses him while nursing him at the hospital. On another night, she gets drunk and kisses state auditor Chris Traeger, which prompts him to continually ask her out on a date, which invitations she declines because she is put off by his excessive positivity.
Ann continues to be asked out by Chris but continually declines. Leslie sees an opportunity to utilize Chris' positivity to bring more funds into the Parks Department by having Ann bring it up on a date. While out, Ann learns of the reason for Chris' positivity: he had a rare blood disorder and was expected to die as a baby, and so he is happy to still be alive many years later; as a result, she takes a genuine liking to him. Their date is ruined when both Leslie and Ben crash it, and Leslie accidentally reveals the motive behind the date. Ann later apologizes to Chris and asks him out on another date, and the two soon enter into a relationship. Initially, Ann was intimidated by Chris' intensity, calling him "the perfect human man". But after he is incapacitated by a serious flu virus and so drops his appearance of perfection, Ann relaxes. After a few weeks of dating Ann is infatuated enough with Chris to have no issues with the idea of leaving Pawnee and following him to Indianapolis. When the two discuss the issue of a long distance relationship or the notion of Ann's moving with him, Ann believes that things are a bit cleared up although she came up with no definite solution on the issue. Ann later tells Leslie Chris became distant after their "talk", which prompts Leslie to search his house for items that could suggest his infidelity, when she and Ron visit his house in Indianapolis. There, she finds a pink razor and pink swim cap, and calls Ann about it. Ann then storms into Chris' house drilling him about whether he is cheating on her, only to find out that he had actually broken up with her in their conversation the week before; Ann did not realize he had dumped her, because Chris was so cheerful about it, and Ann had never been dumped in her life before that point. Ann is shown to be emotionally affected by the break up, and she begins engaging in impulsive behaviors, such as dyeing part of her hair red and making out with a patient during the Harvest Festival. When Chris returns to Pawnee as the temporary city manager, the two of them discuss their relationship over dinner, where Ann is fooled again by his positive attitude into thinking their relationship is back on. In order to cope, she decides to start dating again, which causes her to be more distant from Leslie. Leslie, in response, recommends her as the new Health Department public relations director. Ann ends up taking the job part-time so she can still be a nurse at the hospital.
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