Coffin was born on 16 March 1967 in France to
Nh. Dini, an
Indonesian novelist and Yves Coffin, a French
diplomat. He has a sister, Marie-Claire. During his childhood, they often moved across Asia, living in
Cambodia and
Japan, 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 had never considered a career in the arts, some talented friends of his, who were better at drawing than he, inspired him to work on improving his skills. He then started to collaborate by doing commercials with
Passion Pictures Paris and
Mac Guff. He created the characters
Pat & Stan for the titular
TF1 TV series. In 2010 he completed, with
Chris Renaud, the feature CGI-animated movie
Despicable Me for Universal. Coffin directed
Despicable Me (2010) and
Despicable Me 2 (2013), with Renaud,
Despicable Me 3 (2017) and the
Despicable Me spin-off,
Minions (2015) with
Kyle Balda. Coffin provides the voice of the Minions in each installment of the
Despicable Me and
Minions franchise including the following films,
Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) and
Despicable Me 4 (2024). Coffin is returning to direct
Minions & Monsters, set for release in 2026. Coffin is currently developing two webseries for
Illumination that will debut on
TikTok and later on
YouTube, titled ''Who's Who
and Bones Story''. ==Personal life==