Pierre Coffin

Pierre Coffin (also credited as Pierre-Louis Padang Coffin) is a French screen artist born on March 16, 1967, in Limoges, France. While widely recognized today for his on-screen voice work, Coffin’s career is rooted in animation and filmmaking, blending technical craft with character-driven comedy.

After studying at the renowned Gobelins school in Paris, he began his professional journey at Amblimation in London, contributing to the Spielberg-backed animated feature We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story. He later moved into freelance work within French CGI, taking on roles that expanded from animator to animation supervisor and eventually director, sharpening the skills that would define his later mainstream success.

Coffin went on to collaborate with Passion Pictures Paris and Mac Guff, culminating in 2010 with Despicable Me, co-directed with Chris Renaud for Universal. He also became a key vocal presence in the franchise, voicing multiple characters and the Minions across projects such as Despicable Me, Banana, Orientation Day, Home Makeover, Minions & Monsters, and Despicable Me 4.

Beyond blockbuster credits, Coffin has been associated with short-form animation experiments, reflecting a career that spans studio features and smaller, idea-driven pieces.