Oscar bait: Ellen DeGeneres isn't the only queer artist who helped make Finding Nemo the biggest hit of 2003.

When Marlin the clown fish sets out to find his missing son, Nemo--and his way to $340 million at the U.S. box office and four Oscar nods--he had some help from the gay and lesbian artists at Pixar, the powerhouse Bay Area computer animation studio. And while gay and straight animators agree that Pixar welcomes talent and that sexuality is never an issue, some of the crew of Finding Nemo feel their sexual orientation was an asset in making 2003's number 1 film.

As computer graphics supervisor of file ocean unit, Danielle Feinberg oversaw all the technical aspects of the sea footage in the fantasy-adventure. "I think when you're a member of a minority group, it helps you appreciate all different kinds of people," she says thoughtfully. "You look for acceptance from other kinds of people and try to give other kinds of people that same acceptance. I wish I had some witty answer for you, but I think in terms of leading a group, being a lesbian makes me more open-minded." Feinberg is currently serving as co-technical lead of lighting on director Brad Bird's superhero spoof The Incredibles, which win be released this fall.

Animator Wendell Lee, who worked with almost all the characters but especially with Nemo and Jacques, the French shrimp he meets in the aquarium, strongly concurs. "Growing up as a gay person, I always felt like I had to observe really carefully how straight people acted and how gay people acted and what the difference was," he explains. "Having that memory helps with my intimation, because you take what you observe and put it into the acting."

Before going on to Cars, Oscar-winning director John Lasseter's next feature, Lee did animation for The Incredibles. "I animated a series of shots of a woman who was supposed to be sort of sexy," he recalls with a laugh. "I don't think Brad knew I was gay. When he looked at them, he said, 'Wow, we're seeing a side of Wendell nobody knows about!' But everyone in the department knows that I'm gay, and there were lots of chuckles and comments about 'No, that's actually not that much of a stretch for him.'"

Feinberg and Lee both say that while they'd like see gay characters appear in American animated films, they don't expect to see any in the foreseeable future. (Ellen DeGeneres provided the voice of Dory, the memory-impaired blue tang in Nemo, but the fish's affectional orientation wasn't mentioned.) "Pixar does movies that are really family-oriented, so it would be great to have a gay character in one of them, just to show people it's a normal thing," Lee concludes. "I don't know when that might happen--America might not be ready for it."

Solomon writes about animation for the Los Angeles Times and other publications.