What The Minions Voice Actors Look Like In Real Life

Although they are the inspiration for one of the most ubiquitous merchandising empires currently in operation on planet Earth, the Minions — originating from the 2010 film "Despicable Me" — have a strangely appealing subversive streak. As audiences learned in the 2015 film "Minions," the small, yellow, Twinkie-like monsters have been on Earth for millions of years, remaining in their perfect evolutionary state that entire time. Their biological imperative is to serve the most evil, death-causing creatures in their vicinity, meaning they exist only to ensure that horrors and anarchy continue to persist. They evolved to be agents of chaos. 

Of course, the Minions don't star in Michael Haneke-like essays about the entropic nature of humankind. They star in financially successful, kid-friendly cartoon films suffused with slapstick and whimsy. The Minions are childlike in their demeanor, easily distracted, amused by butt jokes, and obsessed with toys and bananas. They speak their own brand of chittery gibberish, drawing words from French, English, Italian, and many other Romance languages. They have appeared in four "Despicable Me" feature films and will soon appear in their third "Minions" solo film. They have been in short films, animated series, a TV special, and can be seen crawling all over Universal theme parks. Kids love those little living spongecake-lookin' critters.

The Minions were created by Eric Guillon, Pierre Coffin, and Chris Renaud for the first "Despicable Me." During filmmaking, Coffin provided a temporary vocal track for the Minions, intending to replace it later. Audiences responded so well to Coffin's chittering, though, that he and the other filmmakers left it in the movie. Coffin has voiced the bulk of the Minions throughout "Despicable Me 4," with Renaud and actor Jemaine Clement joining him.

The France-born Pierre Coffin voiced the Minion characters of Tim, Bob, Mark, Phil, and Stuart. The Baltimore-born Chris Renaud voiced Dave, the two-eyed Minion with slicked-to-the-side hair. The New Zealand-born Jemaine Clement voiced Jerry, another two-eyed Minion with widely spaced hairs, but he only played Jerry in the first "Despicable Me." The "Jerry" in "Despicable Me 2" is actually a different character. In all three cases, the actors speak in their nonsense Minion language, with their voices pitched up to sound a little more inhuman and "cute." The photo above shows Coffin and Renaud at the premiere of "Despicable Me 2" in Los Angeles. 

Renaud, however, only played Dave and additional Minions through "Despicable Me 2." After that, Coffin played all the Minions himself. 

The pair is better known for their animation direction, so one won't see them on camera in their movies. Together, they directed "Despicable Me" and "Despicable Me 2." Coffin co-directed "Minions" and  "Despicable Me 3" with Kyle Balda, and Balda would direct "Minions: The Rise of Gru" on his own. Chris Renaud directed "Despicable Me 4" on his own, while Coffin helmed the upcoming "Minions and Monsters" on his own. 

Renaud, as many might know, also directed "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" with Balda and did both "The Secret Life of Pets" movies on his own. The three directors have earned literally billions at the box office. The first six Minion-inclusive feature films have made $5.455 billion worldwide. The Minions may have a subversive streak in their construct, but in terms of pop culture penetration, it doesn't get more mainstream.

Jerry the Minion, as voiced in the first "Despicable Me," was, as mentioned, voiced by Jemaine Clement from "Flight of the Conchords." Clement, however, is a prolific comedian and actor in his own right and has also been involved in multiple hit films. He and Taikia Waititi conceived of and directed the movie "What We Do in the Shadows" together, which was spun off into a successful TV series. Clement and Waititi also worked together in the quirky indie comedy "Eagle vs. Shark." He played the guilt-wracked whaler, Ian Garvin, in "Avatar: The Way of Water" and "Avatar: Fire and Ash." He played the cackling alien biker villain in "Men in Black 3," and the voice of the villainous bird Nigel in the hit "Rio" movies. He played the David-Bowie-sounding crab monster Tamatoa in "Moana," and had two small roles in "A Minecraft Movie." 

"A Minecraft Movie" was directed by Jared Hess, who also worked with Clement on "Gentlemen Broncos" and on the "Napoleon Dynamite" TV series. It seems that directors invite Clement back frequently. Clement was also in the film "Dinner for Schmucks" with Steve Carell, the star of the "Despicable Me" movies.

The Minions were voiced by an actor named James Arnold Taylor for the 2010 "Despicable Me" video game, and he's a prolific and long-working voice actor in his own right. Taylor played Leonardo in the 2007 "TMNT" movie and voiced Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars." He played Ratchet in the "Ratchet & Clank" movie, which, incidentally, also featured Clement. His TV credits are too plentiful to list here. The Minions are just another feather in his cap.