In the recent DreamWorks animated movie Kung Fu Panda, Angelina Jolie voices Tigress, a member of the legendary Kung Fu team, "The Furious Five." So what did one of the consensus most beautiful women in the wolrld, a famous actress and activist, identify with in Kung Fu Panda's underdog story? Just before the films release, she opened up to reporters about how she came to the film and how she relates to its message.

On why she wanted to contribute to Kung Fu Panda and portray Tigress specifically:
I remember going in and I loved doing Shark Tale, so when Jeffrey [Katzenberg, head of DreamWorks' Animation] called me to do another animated film I was excited anyway. And then I heard about the concept of this particular film and the message behind it, and I just think it’s so beautiful.  And then you go into this room and they show you all the characters, and I know everybody secretly picks their favorite and hopes that they are going to be told that that’s the one they get to play, and I did see Tigress and I did say I hope I get to be her and I was very excited when I was. 

I have a tiger tattoo on my back; we have an animal sanctuary in Cambodia and protect tigers and my kids are Asian. And the tiger and Kung Fu is very...it’s actually a bit of a discussion in our house and it’s a nice thing, and my kids talk to the tiger tattoo. So, when mommy got to be a tiger I knew that was going to be a big deal.  But their Kung Fu style is all attack. It’s not defensive and it’s not, it’s just all attack, so I think that’s sexy and exciting and think she is fun. 

On the character of Tigress:
She is one of the “Furious Five.”  We’re all different animals and we’re different styles of Kung Fu, and we’ve all been trained hoping that one of us will become the "Dragon Warrior," the master, one day and take our place. I believe, of all of them – maybe we all had to believe this – but I believe she was very close to being that one.

And then as you will see in the film, Po the giant panda played by Jack Black, I believe, sabotages my chances at my destiny, and I spend a lot of the movie just really angry with him.   But then like everybody we all learn something in the film, and so I grew up a little during the film.

On co-star Jack Black:
He’s perfect. He’s so loveable and he’s so funny, he’s just genuinely so funny and that guy you root for.  He is Po, as Jack was saying himself. In his life he’s felt like Po and, having the success he’s had, he feels like he’s had amazing chances to be victorious being exactly who he is. And we love him for exactly who he is and he’s taught us that lesson, and it’s why we love Jack Black because he’s so...he’s just such a real person, and he’s so naturally loving and funny and adventurous, so that’s a lot of Po.

On the lessons that Kung Fu Panda can teach:
There are so many elements of it. There is a really strong element of family and needing family. My character doesn’t have any family and this world becomes my family.  So being orphaned and finding a home, which is a theme in my life, is in the film.  Not judging people by their appearance, by some idea of what the world says; "This is a hero person and this is what the hero looks like," and then this is, you know, "These are the alpha people" and how silly that is.

Then you really see how everybody has their own personal best. So for me as a parent, I love it and I appreciate that there is something out there that I can show my kids and know that they are going to get that message, and it’s going to make them feel better about themselves and feel good about themselves.

On how she identifies with the movie's central theme:
I think I had that more in the side of my life that I’m working on now, not as much the humanitarian side of it but getting into politics or trying to push a bill through Congress or something like that. I kind of feel a lot still like the punk kid that didn’t go to college and an actor. So I certainly had a lot of people, when I first started going to Washington or lobbying for things, make me feel like, "What do you think you’re doing?" 

Until I got confident that I’m a citizen and I’m a thinking person, and "Why can’t I also try to be this as well?" because this means something to me. But I was shy about it, and it took me a while to kind of feel that I had the confidence to do that.