I don't think about the gender thing very much. But when I speak at schools, I've had female students say to me afterwards, "I never envisioned myself being a director, since I've never seen women do it." But after seeing me, they can picture themselves directing, so maybe we'll see more female directors.
Jennifer Yuh NelsonWhen you make a movie, it's just so personal and then you put it out in front of people and it becomes something else.
Jennifer Yuh NelsonOne of the things we love about Po [Kung Fu Panda] is that he's vulnerable. He's someone that we can all identify with because he has those insecurities. He's an outsider feeling guy.
Jennifer Yuh NelsonWhen you see all of the pandas in this movie [Kung Fu Panda 3], they are rolling because that is exactly what they do. Not only were we able to watch the pandas play but we had free range to walk around and get a feel for the architecture and get a sense of where they lived ,so there's a lot of firsthand exploration.
Jennifer Yuh NelsonAs I said, i'm very quiet, i don't go around saying "I'm awesome!" but when I brought in my portfolio into DreamWorks and showed them what I could do, my art style is a lot wilder than I am.
Jennifer Yuh NelsonI think it's really nice to have an authenticity, it's a huge source for us to be able to lean on people who have that knowledge.
Jennifer Yuh Nelson8 year old young girl came up to me when I went to speak at an elementary school, and she gave me a drawing. It was great and she said "I want to be just like you when I grow up and direct movies". And that just made me choke up. It was so cute, and the reason why she's looking at me is I look like her.
Jennifer Yuh Nelson