Jennifer Yuh Nelson

“I think in the experience of growing up and realizing who you are, what your place in the world is can be quite scary.”

“I'm a hard-core geek.”

“A lot of the time in animation is spent getting the story right - that's something you can't rush.”

“I like to draw, and my drawings are what yell and scream for me.”

“I'm a very soft-spoken person. I don't throw furniture. I don't throw tantrums.”

“The great thing about computer animation is that all of those environments exist as three-dimensional worlds, so these VR worlds already exist.”

“I've been watching things like 'Master of the Flying Guillotine' since I was 5.”

“When you make a movie, it's just so personal and then you put it out in front of people and it becomes something else.”

“It's really helpful to have somebody to bounce off of and that will say, 'Yeah, that's a horrible idea. You shouldn't do it.'”

“I don't believe in overcooking the actors too much. Especially when it's a real performance that I'm looking for.”

“I couldn't imagine screaming 'Action!' on an outdoor set over a wind machine or whatever.”

“You have to figure out how you can step forward and affect your own life. I think that sense of empowerment is actually really positive, specifically for the young generation because they've been bystanders in their own lives for a while.”

“When people feel safe, they can come up with ideas.”

“When we were first creating the look of 'Kung Fu Panda,' we wanted to pay tribute to the beautiful tradition and culture of China.”

“I'm not necessarily a huge fan of YA movies. I haven't watched a lot of them.”

“I've been asked about the glass ceiling a lot, and I don't think of myself as some kind of crusader going around smashing glass. I don't feel like I had to - and that is a very, very strong flag showing the people around me made it, so I didn't have to.”

“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.”

“I walk into a room, and people see me as a director, not a woman.”

“I'm not aggressive by nature and it was tough for me to make the transition to directing.”

“I like action movies, and I prefer to watch a bad Hong Kong action movie to just about anything else.”