Perrin was born 6 January 1963, in Meknes, Morocco, but considers Avignon, Provence, to be his hometown. He entered the École polytechnique in 1982 and graduated in 1985. Perrin then received his Test Pilot Licence in 1993 from the École du personnel navigant d’essais et de réception (EPNER), the French Test Pilot School at Istres Air Force Base and received his Air Line Pilot Certificate in 1995.

Prior to graduating from the École polytechnique, Perrin completed military duty in the French Navy, where he was trained in ship piloting and navigation, and spent six months at sea in the Indian Ocean. Following École polytechnique, he entered the French Air Force in 1985, was awarded his pilot’s wings in 1986, and was assigned to the 33rd Reconnaissance Wing at Strasbourg Air Force Base (1987–1991). He flew the Mirage F1CR and made detachments in Africa and Saudi Arabia.

Upon graduating from EPNER, the French Test Pilot School, he worked on a variety of test programs while assigned to the Bretigny Test Center. In 1992, he was temporarily detached to the French Space Agency (CNES) and sent to Star City, Russia, where he trained for two months. In 1993, he reported to the 2nd Air Defense Wing of Dijon Air Force Base as Senior Operations Officer (Operation Southern Watch). In 1995, he returned to the Bretigny Test Center, as Chief Pilot Deputy, in charge of the development of the Mirage 2000-5.

In July 1996, CNES announced his selection as an astronaut candidate and assigned him to attend NASA’s Astronaut Candidate Training in Houston, Texas.

Perrin reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. Having completed two years of training and evaluation, he qualified for flight assignments as a mission specialist. Perrin was initially assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Spacecraft Systems/Operations Branch.

He served as a mission specialist on the STS-111 mission in 2002 and logged over 332 hours in space, including 19 hours and 31 minutes in three spacewalks, performed with Franklin Chang-Diaz.

He did not fly in space with ESA and left the European Astronaut Corps in 2004. He is currently working as a test pilot for Airbus.