Anton Yelchin

***Anton Viktorovich Yelchin*** (Russian: Анто́н Ви́кторович Е́льчин, IPA: [ɐnˈton ˈjelʲtɕɪn]}; March 11, 1989, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg, Russia) – June 19, 2016, Studio City, California, USA) was a Russian-American actor. He played Pavel Chekov in three Star Trek films: Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and the posthumously released Star Trek Beyond (2016). Born to a Russian Jewish family in Leningrad, Yelchin and his family moved to the United States when he was a baby. In the late 1990s, Yelchin began appearing in television and film roles. His role in Steven Spielberg's miniseries Taken helped further his career. Yelchin also starred in Huff, the films Fright Night, Hearts in Atlantis, Alpha Dog, Like Crazy, Green Room, and the posthumously released Trollhunters.

Anton Viktorovich Yelchin was born on March 11, 1989, in Leningrad, Russian SFSR (now Saint Petersburg, Russia). 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 had 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 had 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 fled to 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 had 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 in 2017 after his death 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.

Yelchin played supporting roles in two blockbuster films released in May 2009: Star Trek, in which he played teenage navigator Pavel Chekov, and Terminator Salvation, in which he played a young Kyle Reese.

In 2011, Yelchin played Charley Brewster in Craig Gillespie's remake film Fright Night, starred in the romantic drama Like Crazy, and voiced Clumsy Smurf in the film adaptation of The Smurfs and its sequel. He replaced Russell Tovey for the voice role of Albino Pirate in the American version of the animated film The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (also known as The Pirates! Band of Misfits) (2012). Yelchin voiced Shun in Studio Ghibli's From Up on Poppy Hill.

Yelchin again played the role of Chekov in the 2013 film Star Trek Into Darkness. He also played the lead in the thriller Odd Thomas (2013) and the horror comedy Burying the Ex (2014). In 2015, Yelchin starred in the independent horror film Green Room, which premiered at the Cannes film festival that year and received limited theatrical release in May 2016.

Shortly before his death, Yelchin reprised his role as Chekov in Star Trek Beyond, which was released on July 22, 2016. He completed filming several independent films which were released posthumously. Yelchin also recorded the voice role of Jim in Guillermo del Toro's Trollhunters.