Pierre Coffin
Personal details
  • Born:
    • Birthday: 1967-03-16
    • Born Place: Limoges, France
  • Also Known As:

    피에르 꼬팽, Pierre-Louis Padang Coffin

Pierre Coffin

Pierre Coffin (born Pierre-Louis Padang Coffin on March 16, 1967) is a world-renowned French animator, director, and voice actor who fundamentally shaped modern animation through the creation of the Minions. Born in France to a French diplomat and the famous Indonesian novelist Nh. Dini, Coffin’s childhood was spent traveling across Cambodia and Japan before his family settled in Paris. He honed his artistic skills at the prestigious Gobelins School of the Image in Paris, which led to his first major industry role as a junior animator at Steven Spielberg’s Amblimation studio in London, where he worked on We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993). After transitioning to freelance work and directing commercials, Coffin gained French television fame with his series Pat & Stan (2004–2009), featuring a singing hippopotamus and dog. His global breakthrough came in 2010 when he co-directed Despicable Me with Chris Renaud for Illumination Entertainment. While the film was a massive success, it was Coffin’s unintentional invention of the Minions' voices that became a cultural phenomenon; he originally provided the high-pitched gibberish as a temporary "scratch" track, but the producers loved it so much that he became the permanent voice for all the characters. Coffin went on to direct or co-direct nearly every major installment in the franchise, including Despicable Me 2 (2013), Minions (2015), and Despicable Me 3 (2017). His work on Despicable Me 2 earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. In addition to directing, Coffin remains the sole voice actor for the hundreds of Minions, including the main trio Kevin, Stuart, and Bob. He developed "Minionese," a linguistically complex "banana language" that blends French, English, Spanish, Italian, and Indonesian. As of late 2025, Coffin remains a central figure at Illumination; while he stepped back from directing for Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) and Despicable Me 4 (2024) to focus on voice work, it has been officially confirmed that he will return to the director's chair for Minions 3, currently scheduled for a 2027 release.

Person History