Last month more than one lesbian took to the stage to accept an Emmy and closed her speech with an “I love you” to her partner. Maile Flanagan and her partner Lesa may not be household names in the way that Ellen and Portia are, but the couple also got public recognition at this year's awards ceremony when Maile thanked Lesa in her acceptance speech for the Emmy for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program.

Maile is still trying to get used to the idea that she won an Emmy. “It's sort of surreal. It's in my dining room and I'm looking at it right now,” she says of her statuette, “and I have no idea what to do with it. I have no mantle!”

Flanagan won the award for her starring role in PBS' Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks. The show—which sports high-quality CGI animation ordinarily only seen in movies—won the award for Outstanding Children's Animated Program.

The cast of barnyard animals includes Mel Brooks as a wisecracking sheep. Flanagan says they have a lot of fun recording the shows, particularly the portions that have to be edited out: “We're cracking up. But our sessions should not be repeated in front of children. It's completely filthy!”

As the voice of young Piggley, Flanagan has to convey what an eight-year-old talking pig would sound like if he lived in 1950s rural Ireland. Flanagan says she beat out hundreds of Irish boys who auditioned for the role. In the first round each actor submitted a sound booth recording. The casting director didn't know that what would become the voice of Piggley belonged to a woman until in-person auditions in the second phase.

Flanagan describes her voice as gruff and gravelly. She says it's particularly well-suited to playing boys—something she does often. Most notably Flanagan voices Naruto, the title character of an anime on Cartoon Network that she says is the highest rated show for its age group. According to her the young ninja-in-training is always eating ramen, so Flanagan has to make a lot of noodle-slurping sounds. Naruto also does a lot of kicking, shouting and jumping—making for a physically challenging voice acting role.

Voice acting frequently involves stunts, and Flanagan has even had to make convincing vomiting sounds. She says belching is particularly fun. “But one time I just couldn't get the burp up,” she recalls, “so this kid who was my co-star was a stunt burper for me, because she could really belch.”