Kyle Balda & Pierre Coffin

Kyle Balda
Born March 9, 1971 · Tucson, Arizona, USA
Kyle Balda is a BAFTA nominated feature animation director working in the industry for 30 years, most notably with Illumination Entertainment and Pixar Animation Studios. He began his career in early 90s after studying at Calarts to join the crew of Industrial Light and Magic where he animated on such films as The Mask, Mars Attacks! and as supervising animator on Jumanji. After animating the Grim Reaper for Peter Jackson's The Frighteners at Weta Digital in New Zealand, Kyle returned to California to work at Pixar on A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc and as directing animator of Toy Story 2. Following a number of years conducting Masterclasses at renowned film schools worldwide and directing short form animation projects, Balda returned to feature production in Paris as the head of layout for Illumination's Despicable Me followed by a co-directing position on The Lorax and directing roles (with directing partner Pierre Coffin) on Minions and Despicable Me 3.
Pierre Coffin
Born March 15, 1967 · France
Pierre-Louis Padang Coffin 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. Coffin was born in 1967 in France to Yves Coffin, a French diplomat, and Nh. Dini, an Indonesian novelist. He has a sister, Marie-Claire. During his childhood, they moved a lot 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 never considered a career in arts, some talented friends, who were better than him at drawing, inspired him to improve his skills.