Maile Flanagan

Personal life

Flanagan's first name Maile is a Hawaiian name derived from the word maile for the vine commonly used in leis. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her father worked for the U.S. military intelligence. In 1969, her family was stationed in Bangkok, Thailand and when she was ten, they moved to Germany. While in Germany, Flanagan and her family lived in Nuremberg, and Munich.

She graduated from a Department of Defense (DOD) school Munich America High School (MAHS) in 1983. About her arrival at Boston College (BC), she has stated: "It took me three years to acclimate because I hadn't lived in the States since I was four-and-a-half! I have used some of this in my characters — the wide-eyed wonder." While attending BC, she was a member of the student comedy troupe, My Mother's Fleabag.

Flanagan is openly lesbian. In 2008, she married Lesa Hammett.

Career

After graduating in 1987 from "The Heights" (a common nickname for Boston College) and a brief stint in Washington, D.C., Flanagan moved to Minneapolis and was in the comedy troupe Every Mother's Nightmare with Wayne Wilderson, Tom McCarthy, Andrea Beutner, Peter Civetta, and Nancy Walls and others. Minneapolis is where she performed stand-up comedy and theater. In 1996, she moved to her current hometown, Los Angeles, California with the stage production of The Bad Seed, which won an LA Weekly Theater Award for Best Comedy Ensemble. She does television, commercials, animation, and film and was nominated for an Annie Award for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Program at the 32nd Annual Annie Awards in 2005.

Flanagan earned an Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks in 2006. "I went to school with people from all around the world", she says. "That probably helps me with doing accents."

She has numerous LA theater credits including working with writer/director Justin Tanner at Third Stage in Burbank in his shows Oklahomo!, Wife Swappers, Pot Mom, and Zombie Attack! In 2012, Flanagan made her debut on Disney XD on a series called Lab Rats, she was a special guest and played Leo's principal.