Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin, who loved Dubai, dies in freak car accident

Anton Yelchin, a rising young actor who starred as Chekov in the new Star Trek film, was killed onSunday in a freak car accident, his publicist said. He was 27.

Anton Yelchin was killed in a car accident early Sunday morning. Domenico Stinellis / AP Photo September 2014

Rising star Anton Yelchin, who starred as Chekov in the Star Trek movies, was killed on Sunday in a freak car accident, his publicist said. He was 27.

Yelchin “was killed in a fatal traffic collision early this morning”, the statement said. “His family requests you respect their privacy.”

The accident took place in the driveway of Yelchin’s San ­Fernando Valley home. He was found in the early hours of Sunday after failing to meet friends for a rehearsal several hours earlier. It appears he momentarily left his car, Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Jenny Hauser said.

The car “rolled backward down his steep driveway, pinning him against a brick mailbox pillar and security fence”, she said. After he failed to show up, his friends found him dead by the car, she added, saying it was unclear how long after the accident they arrived.

Yelchin was in Dubai with the rest of the Star Trek cast last September and October to shoot scenes for the forthcoming Star Trek Beyond. Shooting took place in JBR, DIFC, Sheikh Zayed Road and Meydan. The cast also met the press at Burj Al Arab Hotel, where Yelchin revealed an unexpected love for the city's architecture. "This is going to sound so pretentious," he said. "But as a student of architecture, I'm fascinated to be in this town and it's even better to be here with friends and people I care about — and I'm very grateful to the city for having us."

Born in Russia, Yelchin moved to the United States when he was six months old with his parents — star figure skaters with the Leningrad Ice Ballet.

"I tried ice-skating and wasn't very good at it," he told The Daily Beast in 2011, saying that a friend of his parents urged them to enrol him in acting classes. He made his film debut at the age of 9 in A Man Is Mostly Water, and went on to win roles in television dramas and films.

His breakout performance came in the 2006 crime thriller Alpha Dog, and his movie credits include J J Abrams's Star Trek, Star Trek into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond, which is set for release next month.

He starred most recently in last year's critically acclaimed thriller Green Room. He was also a member of the band HammerHeads.

Yelchin's fellow actor John Cho, who starred as Sulu in the new Star Trek series, was among those to pay tribute to him on Twitter. "I loved Anton Yelchin so much," he wrote. "He was a true artist – curious, beautiful, courageous. He was a great pal and a great son. I'm in ruins."

Cho added: “Please send your love to Anton’s family right now. They need it.”