Pierre Coffin

Actor, Writer, Director

Birthdate: March 15, 1967 (59 Years Old)

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.

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Personal Life
Movies
Facts

Personal life

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.

Known For

Despicable Me 2

(2013)

Minions

(2015)

Despicable Me

(2010)

Despicable Me 3

(2017)

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).

Oscar

Oscar

Academy Awards, USA

BAFTA Film Award

BAFTA Film Award

BAFTA Awards

BAFTA Film Award

BAFTA Film Award

BAFTA Awards

Pierre Coffin Movies

Actor

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Previous (8)

2026 |
Minions & Monsters
Minions & Monsters
2026
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Crime, Family, Sci-Fi
Follows the Minions in 1920s Hollywood as they search for frightening creatures for their monster movie, partner with a green creature, and must save the planet after unleashing monsters.
asThe Minions
2024 |
Despicable Me 4
Despicable Me 4
2024
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Crime, Family, Sci-Fi
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.
More Info
asMinions
2022 |
Minions: The Rise of Gru
Minions: The Rise of Gru
2022
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Crime, Family, Sci-Fi
The untold story of one twelve-year-old's dream to become the world's greatest supervillain.
More Info
asThe Minions
2017 |
Despicable Me 3
Despicable Me 3
2017
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Crime, Family, Sci-Fi
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.
asMinions
2015 |
Minions
Minions
2015
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Crime, Family, Sci-Fi
Minions Stuart, Kevin, and Bob are recruited by Scarlet Overkill, a supervillain who, alongside her inventor husband Herb, hatches a plot to take over the world.
More Info
asThe Minions
2013 |
Despicable Me 2
Despicable Me 2
2013
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Crime, Family, Sci-Fi
When a new criminal comes to town, the Anti-Villain League decides to hire Gru in order to fight him off. While Gru initially refuses, he eventually agrees after his aide goes back to his evil ways.
More Info
asKevin the Minion
2010 |
Despicable Me
Despicable Me
2010
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Crime, Family, Sci-Fi
Gru, a criminal mastermind, adopts three orphans as pawns to carry out the biggest heist in history. His life takes an unexpected turn when the little girls see the evildoer as their potential father.
asTim the Minion
-- |
as The Minions

Director

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Previous (2)

2017 |
Despicable Me 3
Despicable Me 3
2017
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Crime, Family, Sci-Fi
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.
2015 |
Minions
Minions
2015
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Crime, Family, Sci-Fi
Minions Stuart, Kevin, and Bob are recruited by Scarlet Overkill, a supervillain who, alongside her inventor husband Herb, hatches a plot to take over the world.
More Info

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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