Pierre-Louis Padang Coffin (born 16 March 1967)
is a French animator, voice actor, director, producer, and writer best known for co-directing four films in the
''Despicable Me'' franchise and being the voice of the
Minions, which won him the Kids Family Award at the
10th Seiyu Awards.
Life and career
Coffin was born on 16 March 1967 in France to Yves Coffin, a French
diplomat
A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...
, and
Nh. Dini
Nurhayati Srihardini Siti Nukatin Coffin (29 February 1936 – 4 December 2018), better known by her pen name Nh. Dini (sometimes NH Dini in English), was an Indonesian novelist and feminist. She was the youngest of five children of Saljowidjojo ...
, an
Indonesian
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
novelist. He has a sister, Marie-Claire. During his childhood, they often moved across Asia, living in
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, before settling in a Parisian suburb in the 1970s. Growing up, their father forbade them watching television, considering it too passive. Instead, Coffin drew, read, and listened to music a lot. Although he never considered a career in arts, some talented friends, who were better than him at drawing, inspired him to improve his skills.
Between 1985 and 1988, he studied cinema at the
Paris-Sorbonne University
Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; french: Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV) was a public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the Universit ...
. While attending his military service, he withdrew to take the entrance exam for the
Gobelins animation school in Paris. Passing, he studied there the 2D course from 1990 to 1993.
Then he moved to
Amblin
Amblin Entertainment, Inc., formerly named Amblin Productions and Steven Spielberg Productions, is an American film production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg, and film producers Kathleen Kennedy (producer), Kathlee ...
, the 2D London-based facility, where he worked for one year as a junior animator on the
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
-executive-produced ''
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story''.
He then started as a freelance animator in the French CGI studio Ex Machina where he worked as an animator and eventually animation supervisor. Pierre Coffin's directorial career began with a short film named ''Pings'' in 1997.
He then started to collaborate by doing commercials with
Passion Pictures Paris and
Mac Guff
Mac Guff (also known as Mac Guff Ligne) is a French visual effects company based in both Los Angeles, United States and Paris, France, where it is headquartered. Mac Guff specializes in the creation of computer graphics for commercials, music vid ...
. He created the characters ''
Pat & Stan'' for the titular
TF1 TV series. In 2010 he completed, with
Chris Renaud
Chris Renaud (born December 1966) is an American film producer, director, illustrator, designer, animator, and voice actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for the 2006 animated short ''No Time for Nuts'', which featured the character Scrat ...
, the feature CGI animated movie ''
Despicable Me
''Despicable Me'' is a computer-animated media franchise centering on Gru, a reformed super-villain (who later becomes a father, husband, and secret agent), and his yellow-colored Minions. It is produced by Illumination and distributed by ...
'' for Universal.
Coffin directed ''
Despicable Me
''Despicable Me'' is a computer-animated media franchise centering on Gru, a reformed super-villain (who later becomes a father, husband, and secret agent), and his yellow-colored Minions. It is produced by Illumination and distributed by ...
'' and ''
Despicable Me 2
''Despicable Me 2'' is a 2013 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The sequel to ''Despicable Me'' (2010), it is directed by Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin, and ...
'', with Renaud, ''
Despicable Me 3
''Despicable Me 3'' is a 2017 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Despicable Me 2'' (2013), the third main installment, and the fourth installment overal ...
'' and the ''Despicable Me'' spin-off, ''
Minions'' with
Kyle Balda
Kyle Balda (born March 9, 1971) is an American animator and film director, best known for co-directing the Illumination films ''The Lorax'' (2012), with Chris Renaud; '' Minions'' (2015), with Pierre Coffin; and '' Minions: The Rise of Gru'' ( ...
.
In which he also served as the voice of various Minions. Coffin recorded several different dubs of the Minion voices for ''Minions'' in order to better appeal to different national markets, mixing in varying local words depending on the country.
Personal life
Coffin has two children.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coffin, Pierre
1967 births
Living people
French film directors
French male voice actors
French animators
French animated film directors
French people of Bugis descent
French people of Indonesian descent
Indo people
Bugis people
Javanese people
Illumination (company) people