An apparatus and method for generating an animation of a virtual character using video data and a limited number of three-dimensional (3D) key models of a virtual character, are provided. The video data includes a sequence of two-dimensional image frames. The key models are blended together using the calculated weights, and a 3D facial expression most similar to the 2D facial expression included in each image frame may be generated. When the above operations are performed for input video data including a sequence of image frames, a facial animation, which makes facial expressions according to facial expressions included in the video data may be created.