Pierre Coffin
Birthdate: Mar 15, 1967
Birthplace: France
Pierre Coffin (birthname: Pierre-Louis Padang Coffin) is one of the key creators of Minions, both as co-director and as the memorable voice of the little yellow helpers to Gru. A rare example of an animation director and voice performer, Coffin brings an unusual international, multi-cultural perspective to an American-dominated art form. His latest feature as a voice artist is Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), with fellow actors Steve Carell, Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, RZA, and Jean-Claude Van Damme.
After graduating from the famed Paris animation school, Les Gobelins, Pierre Coffin was a junior animator at Amblin’s London animation studio on We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story (1993), executive produced by Steven Spielberg. Coffin returned to Paris and worked as an animator and animation supervisor at Paris-based CGI studio Ex Machina. Coffin worked on animated commercials in Paris for British-owned Passion Pictures, then established himself long-term at French visual effects firm Mac Guff.
As Mac Guff collaborated with Illumination Entertainment, Coffin co-directed the remarkably successful Despicable Me (2010), which launched the highest-earning animation franchise of all time, followed by Despicable Me 2 (2013), and Despicable Me 3 (2017), earning a cumulative box office of over $2.5 billion. This doesn’t include Minions (2015), with the voices of Cotton, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, and Geoffrey Rush, which earned a worldwide gross of $1.16 billion. This, combined with the Despicable Me movies, means that Coffin has co-directed a group of movies that have cumulatively grossed worldwide nearly $3.7 billion—an astonishing average of close to $1 billion per film.
Personal Details
Paris-born Pierre Coffin was raised by diplomat father Yves Paul Marie Fernand Coffin and Indonesian novelist mother Nurhayati Srihardini Siti Nukatin Coffin, popularly known as Nh Dini. Coffin’s sister is Marie-Claire Coffin. During his childhood, his peripatetic family lived in various East Asian countries, including Cambodia and Japan, before settling in Paris. Coffin studied cinema at the Sorbonne University in Paris from 1985 to 1988. He left university for a year of military service, but when he resumed his studies he attended the Paris animation school, Les Gobelins, to focus on mastering animation. He has two children, a son Noe and a daughter Julie.
Awards
Nominee, Best Animated Feature, Academy Awards (2014); Two-time Nominee, Best Animated Film, BAFTA Awards (2014, 2016); Three-time Nominee, Best Director/Best Voice Acting, Annie Awards (2011, 2014, 2016).
BAFTA Film Award
BAFTA Awards
Filmography
actor
Previous (8)
- 2024 | Despicable Me 4asMinions
Despicable Me 4
Gru, Lucy, Margo, Edith, and Agnes welcome a new member to the family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad. Gru faces a new nemesis in Maxime Le Mal and his girlfriend Valentina, and the family is forced to go on the run.
- 2022 | Minions & More 1as The Minions
- 2022 | Minions & More 2as The Minions
- 2022 | Minions: The Rise of GruasThe Minions
Minions: The Rise of Gru
The untold story of one twelve-year-old's dream to become the world's greatest supervillain.
- 2017 | Minion Momentsas The Minions
- 2015 |
- 2013 | Despicable Me 2asDirector(directed by)
Despicable Me 2
When Gru, the world's most super-bad turned super-dad has been recruited by a team of officials to stop lethal muscle and a host of Gru's own, He has to fight back with new gadgetry, cars, and more minion madness.
- 2010 | Despicable Meas Director
director
Previous (1)
- 2017 | Despicable Me 3
Despicable Me 3
Gru meets his long-lost, charming, cheerful, and more successful twin brother Dru, who wants to team up with him for one last criminal heist.
Some Facts About Pierre Coffin
TV-Free Childhood: Pierre Coffin’s strict father forbade his children, including Pierre, from watching television. Instead, young Coffin busied himself with school work, drawing, reading, and writing.
Best Audience: Coffin has reported that he runs all of his characters and story ideas for his films by his young children.
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