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.

[1][2] His parents, Irina Korina and Viktor Yelchin, were pair figure skaters who were stars of the Leningrad Ice Ballet for 15 years.

[6] 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.

[17] On Showtime's television series Huff, Yelchin played Byrd Huffstodt, the 14-year-old son of the eponymous character (Hank Azaria).

He also appeared in the Criminal Minds episode "Sex, Birth & Death" as Nathan Harris, a boy who has murderous urges toward prostitutes and approaches Dr. Spencer Reid to help him before he actually does kill.

In Alpha Dog, Yelchin played Zack Mazursky, a character based on real-life murder victim Nicholas Markowitz.

[30] He recorded the voice role of Jim Lake Jr. on Guillermo del Toro's animated TV series Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia.

In January 2018, an exhibit of his photography titled Anton Yelchin: Provocative Beauty was displayed at New York City's De Buck Gallery.

[40][41][42] As Yelchin apparently got out of his car and went to check his locked gate for mail, the vehicle rolled back down his driveway, which was on a steep incline and trapped him against the pillar and a security fence.

He was pronounced dead at the scene;[43][33] the Los Angeles County Coroner's office identified the cause of death as "blunt traumatic asphyxia" and stated that there were "no obvious suspicious circumstances involved".

Celebrities present at the unveiling ceremony included Jennifer Lawrence, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, J. J. Abrams, Emile Hirsch, Demi Moore, Jon Voight, Drake Doremus, and Jeremy Saulnier.

A Starfleet vessel named "The Yelchin" is mentioned twice in the Star Trek: Discovery episode "Unification III" (S03E07) and again in the season four finale "Coming Home" (S04E13).

[53] Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), the manufacturer of the Grand Cherokee, was aware of 2014 and 2015 models having a high rate of rollaway incidents due to a gearshift design that could make it difficult for the driver to determine whether the vehicle was in park or still in gear.

FCA had already recalled all 2014–15 Grand Cherokees for this concern in April 2016, but the software patch to repair the vehicles did not reach dealers until the week of Yelchin's death.