Maile Flanagan (; born May 19, 1965) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known as the voice of

Naruto Uzumaki () is the title character, titular protagonist of the manga ''Naruto'', created by Masashi Kishimoto. He is a ninja from the fictional . As a boy, Naruto is ridiculed and ostracized on account of the Kurama (Naruto), Nine-Tailed Demon Fox—a ...

in the English dub of the ''

Naruto ''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...

'' franchise. Other prominent roles include voicing Piggley Winks in '' Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks'' (for which she received two nominations for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program and won once), and portraying Terry Perry in '' Lab Rats''. Flanagan's live-action film work include appearances in ''

Phone Booth A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; typically the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...

'' (2002), '' The Number 23'' (2007), ''

Evan Almighty ''Evan Almighty'' is a 2007 American fantasy comedy film that is a spin-off and sequel of '' Bruce Almighty'' (2003). The film was directed by Tom Shadyac, written by Steve Oedekerk, based on the characters created by Steve Koren and Mark ...

'' (2007), '' 500 Days of Summer'' (2009) and '' Transformers: Dark of the Moon'' (2011). She has also made guest appearances in several television series such as '' ER'', '' Shameless'', '' Bad Teacher'', ''

The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...

'' and ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...

''. She appeared on the ABC sitcom '' Not Dead Yet'' in a recurring capacity. As of 2023, she is the voice of Matthew "Matt" Hornsby on the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

animated sitcom '' Royal Crackers''. Flanagan has numerous theater credits including working with writer/director Justin Tanner in his plays ''Oklahomo!'', ''Wife Swappers'', ''Pot Mom'', and ''Zombie Attack!''

Early life

Flanagan was born in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, Hawaii. Her father worked for the U.S. military intelligence. In 1969, her family was stationed in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, Thailand and when she was ten, they moved to Germany. She graduated from a

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

(DOD) school Munich America High School (MAHS) in 1983. In 1987, Flanagan graduated from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

with a degree in political science concentrating in history and mathematics.

Career

After a brief stint in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, Flanagan moved to

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

and worked in theater roles and did

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

. She was in the comedy troupe Every Mother's Nightmare with Wayne Wilderson, Tom McCarthy and Nancy Walls. In 1996, she moved to Los Angeles with the stage production of '' The Bad Seed'', which won an LA Weekly Theater Award for Best Comedy Ensemble. Flanagan's first major voice role in animation was as the Piggley Winks in '' Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks'' for which she was nominated for an

Annie Award The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in American cinema and television. Origina ...

in 2005. She was then cast as the title character,

in the English dub version of ''Naruto'', and has consistently voiced the kid, teen and adult incarnations of Naruto in all of its properties including numerous spin-offs and video game adaptations. She also earned an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for her performance in ''Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks'' in 2006. In 2009, Flanagan provided the voice of Mother Aardvark in the third installment of Ice Age film series. Also in 2009, she appeared in

Marc Webb Marc Preston Webb (born August 31, 1974) is an American filmmaker and music video director. He made his feature film directorial debut in 2009 with the romantic comedy '' (500) Days of Summer.'' He then directed ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' (2012 ...

's romantic comedy drama '' 500 Days of Summer'' and Justin Tanner's play ''Voice Lessons''. The following year, she lent her voice to Orangu-Tammy in the animated film '' Kung-Fu Magoo''. From 2012, Flanagan starred as Terry Perry, principal of the Mission Creek High School in the

Disney XD Disney XD is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Entertainment units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven years old ...

live-action comedy series '' Lab Rats'', she was in the show for four seasons until it ended in 2016. She reprised the role again in the 2016 spinoff of the series called '' Lab Rats: Elite Force''. She also had a recurring role as Connie in the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

and fourth season of the Showtime comedy-drama TV series '' Shameless'' (2013–14). In February 2023, Flanagan appeared as Tina in the ABC sitcom '' Not Dead Yet'', based on

Alexandra Potter Alexandra Potter (born in 1970) is a British author of romantic comedies. Biography Born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, Potter was educated at Liverpool University, where she received an honours degree in English Literature and Film Stu ...

's 2020 novel ''Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up''. She also provided the voice of Matt Hornsby in '' Royal Crackers'', which ran on

in April of that same year.

Personal life

Flanagan is openly a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

. She married Lesa Hammett in 2008.

Filmography

Live-action roles

Television

Film

Voice roles

Television

Film

Video games

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * *
Interview with AfterEllen.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flanagan, Maile Living people Actresses from Honolulu American expatriate actresses in Germany American expatriates in Thailand American film actresses American lesbian actresses American LGBTQ actresses American LGBTQ comedians American stage actresses American television actresses American voice actresses Daytime Emmy Award winners Lesbian comedians LGBTQ people from Hawaii 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American LGBTQ people Comedians from Hawaii American women comedians Year of birth missing (living people)