Anton Yelchin

Anton Viktorovich Yelchin was an American actor. Born in the Soviet Union to a Russian Jewish family, he emigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of six 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 Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek reboot and Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation. With the former, he returned for the sequels Into Darkness (2013) and 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 American Smurfs films (2011–2013) and the lead role of James "Jim" Lake Jr. on the Netflix series Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia (2016–2018). Outside of his acting profession, Anton loved reading and was also fond of playing chess. He wrote music and performed with a band, where he also played piano and guitar. Anton lived in Los Angeles, California, until his death on the evening of June 19, 2016, outside his LA home, when his parked Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled backward on his steep driveway, pinning him against a brick pillar and security fence.