Actor Anton Yelchin was born on March 11, 1989 in Leningrad, Russia. He was the child of Irina Korina and Yiktor Yelchin; they were figure skaters who had national celebrity status, but later moved to the United States as refugees after not being allowed by Soviet authorities to join the 1972 Winter Olympics because they were Jews. After graduating from the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies in Tarzana, California, he entered the University of Southern California to study film.
Yelchin began acting, however, at a young age, making his debut in the 2000 independent film A Man is Mostly Water. Some of his early film roles include stints in Hearts in Atlantis (which earned him a win at the 2002 Young Artist Awards), Rooftop Kisses and Along Came a Spider, as well as guest stints in television shows such as Taken, The Practice and Curb Your Enthusiasm. His first major role was in the drama series Huff, which premiered in 2004; he appeared as Byrd Huffstodt, the son of Hank Azaria’s lead character.
Despite considerable success on television, Yelchin focused on acting for films; in between production for Huff, he appeared in films such as Fierce People and Alpha Dog. When the series wrapped up in 2006, he appeared in other films such as Charlie Bartlett and Middle of Nowhere. He would receive further prominence in 2009, when he starred in two summer blockbusters: first in J.J. Abrams’ reimagining of Star Trek, as Pavel Chekov; and later in Terminator Salvation.