Hollywood was rocked by a shocking death when actor Anton Yelchin lost his life in what is considered a freak car accident on June 19th at the age of 27. Yelchin is best known for his recent role as Pavel Chekov in the reboot Star Trek films, in which he does the same with July’s Star Trek Beyond.
The only child of professional skaters, Anton Viktorovich Yelchin was born in Leningrad on March 11, 1989. At the age of only six months, he and his parents left for the United States and while his parents found careers as coaches, Yelchin decided not to follow in his parents’ footsteps and find his true calling as an actor.
At the age of ten, Yelchin made his screen debut on television on the hit series ER. His film debut came a year later with a role in A Man is Mostly Like Water, a comedy starring Fred Parnes and Mark Curry. He gained some rave with a breakout role opposite Sir Anthony Hopkins in 2001’s Hearts in Atlantis. He continued work in television and films, which lead to another breakout role, this time as a young adult as the titular character of Charlie Bartlett in 2007.
Once he became part of the rebooted Star Trek universe as the new Chekov, Yelchin began to get bigger roles, including that of Kyle Reese in the sequel Terminator: Salvation and the role originated by William Ragsdale in a reboot of the cult classic 1985 vampire film Fright Night opposite Colin Farrell as his vampiric next door neighbor. Yelchin also voiced Clumsy in the the big screen adaptation of The Smurfs.
Yelchin is survived by his parents Irina and Viktor. A young actor whose legacy will be known in the world of Hollywood will live on…RIP Anton Yelchin.
H/T: CNN
As a tribute to Yelchin, here is a video of some clips in his role of Pavel Chekov in Star Trek, courtesy of YouTube user gabiwho
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