Working as an animator for DreamWorks Animation Studios since 2010, Rebecca Pérez has been part of the creative team known for making such well-received films as “Megamind” and the Oscar-nominated fantasy adventure “How to Train Your Dragon.”

In her third animated film with DreamWorks, Pérez, who has also worked as an animator during her four-year career with Walt Disney, Sony Pictures, and Twentieth Century Fox, takes on a new challenge in “Kung Fu Panda 2,” the sequel to the highly-entertaining 2008 animation about a chubby panda bear named Po (Jack Black) who learns a prophecy has identified him as the Dragon Warrior.

In the “Panda 2,” Po must lead the Furious Five – Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David Cross) – to defeat a villainous peacock known as Lord Shen (Gary Oldman). Along with showing off his martial arts prowess, Po is given the opportunity find out more about his family roots.

During an interview with EXTRA, Pérez, who is Cuban-American, talked about the character she grew most attached to in “Kung Fu Panda 2” and the moment in her life when she knew she wanted to be an animator.

EXTRA: What was your specific role as an animator on “Kung Fu Panda 2?”

Rebecca Pérez: I had the opportunity to work on most of the characters – Tigress and the rest of the five [main characters] as well as some of the others like the sheep.

Is it easy to get attached to these characters after working on them for so long?

You definitely get attached especially if you get to work on one particular character more than the others. I actually got attached to the sheep character, which is interesting because I don’t ...