Jennifer Yuh Nelson

Jennifer Yuh Nelson [1972-pres] is an award winning Korean American director, best known for directing Kung Fu Panda 2. Nelson is the first woman to solely direct an animated feature from a major Hollywood studio. She won an Annie Award for Best Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production for directing the opening for Kung Fu Panda.

Biography and work

Yuh Nelson was born in South Korea and immigrated to the United States with her parents and two sisters when she was four. Nelson spent her childhood in Lakewood, where she enjoyed watching martial arts movies, playing with cars and drawing. "I have been drawing since age three and making movies in my head for almost as long. In fact, drawing for me was a way to express those films when I had no other means of doing so." said Nelson. As a young girl, she would sit at the kitchen table for hours and watch her mother draw, copying her every stroke. As a kid, she would fancy stories with her sisters and was learning to draw to get down those stories. Nelson traces the lineage of her career to those formative family experiences.

Nelson received a BFA in Illustration from California State University, Long Beach. Prior to joining DreamWorks, Nelson worked at HBO Animation, developing various projects and short series. She has worked as director, story artist and character designer for HBO’s animated series “Spawn”.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Dark City	Illustrator
2002	Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron	Storyboard Artist
2003	Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas	Storyboard Artist
2005	Madagascar	Storyboard Artist
2008	Kung Fu Panda	Visual Effect, Storyboard Artist, Stunts	Annie Award for Best Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
2011	Kung Fu Panda 2	Director

Television work

• 1997 Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
• 1999 Todd McFarlane's Spawn [Director]
• 1998 Spicy City [Other, Visual Effects]

Award

• Annie Award for Best Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production at 36th Annie Awards