Anton Viktorovich Yelchin (Russian: Антон Викторович Ельчин, IPA: [ɐnˈton ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtɕɪn]; March 11, 1989 – June 19, 2016) was an American actor. Born in the Soviet Union to a Russian Jewish family, he immigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of 6 months. He began his career as a child actor, appearing as the lead of the mystery drama film Hearts in Atlantis (2001) and a series regular on the Showtime comedy-drama Huff (2004–2006). Yelchin landed higher profile film roles in 2009, portraying Lieutenant Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek reboot and Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation. He reprised his role as Chekov in the sequels Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016).
Yelchin frequently worked on independent and lower profile films, headlining the romantic drama Like Crazy (2011), the 2011 remake of Fright Night, the supernatural thriller Odd Thomas (2013), the romance 5 to 7 (2014), the horror comedy Burying the Ex (2014), the neo noir The Driftless Area (2015), and the horror thriller Green Room (2015). As a voice actor, he voiced Clumsy Smurf in the live-action Smurfs films (2011–2013) and lead role of James "Jim" Lake Jr. on the Netflix series Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia (2016–2018). He maintained an active career up to his accidental death in 2016 when he was fatally injured by his SUV.
Early life and education :
Yelchin was born on March 11, 1989, in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. His parents, Irina Korina and Viktor Yelchin, were pair figure skaters who were stars of the Leningrad Ice Ballet for 15 years. His family is Jewish, and were subjected to religious and political oppression in the Soviet Union. Yelchin said that his grandparents "suffered in ways [he] can't even begin to understand under Stalin". Nationally, Yelchin's parents were the third-ranked pair team; they thus qualified for the 1972 Winter Olympics, but were not permitted to participate by the Soviet authorities. Yelchin said the reason was unclear: "I don't exactly know what that was – because they were Jewish or because the KGB didn't want them to travel."
Yelchin's family left for the United States in September 1989, when Anton was six months old, and were thereafter granted refugee status from the Department of State.His mother worked as a figure skating choreographer and his father as a figure skating coach, having been Sasha Cohen's first trainer. Yelchin's uncle is the children's author and painter Eugene Yelchin. In an article published in the Los Angeles Times in December 1989, Yelchin's mother stated, "A woman came up, saw Anton, and said, 'He's beautiful. He will be actor.'" Yelchin stated that he "wasn't very good" at figure skating, his parents' profession.
Yelchin was born with cystic fibrosis. However, details of his medical condition were only revealed posthumously in 2017 by a foundation established in his name, the Anton Yelchin Foundation.
Yelchin attended the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies in Tarzana, California, and enrolled at the University of Southern California in the fall of 2007 to study film.
