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Anton Yelchin Dead: Celebrities Take To Twitter To React And Pay Tribute To The Late Actor [Updates]

By Phillip Dengler
Published on: 08:10 PST, Jun 19, 2016

Anton Yelchin, a 27-year-old actor who has appeared in films such as Alpha Dog, Star Trek, and Terminator Salvation, has died in a freak accident involving his car and a brick mailbox, according to TMZ. Yelchin was found pinned between his car and the mailbox early this morning.

“Yelchin’s friends became alarmed because he was supposed to meet them hours earlier for a rehearsal. They went to his San Fernando Valley home at around 1 AM and found him pinned between his car and a brick mailbox, which was attached to a security gate. Law enforcement tells us the engine was running when his body was discovered, and the car was in neutral. The driveway was on a fairly steep incline. It’s unclear why he got out of the car.”

While details are continuing to come out regarding exactly what happened to Yelchin and why he left his car, no foul play is being suspected in the untimely death of the young actor. Immediately after Yelchin’s death was announced, numerous celebrities and fans took to Twitter to pay their respects.

In addition to the above celebrities, countless other stars and former co-workers of Yelchin posted their own personal tributes on Twitter and Instagram. One of the first was John Cho, an actor who worked with Yelchin on Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond, a film that will be released in July.

Born in 1989 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Yelchin and his family moved to the United States a few months after his birth. He started his acting career early at the age of nine in the film A Man is Mostly Water. Over the course of the past 18 years, Yelchin has appeared in a wide variety of television shows and movies.

In 2002, at the age of 13, he won the Young Artist Award for his work in Hearts in Atlantis. In 2009, he won the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Ensemble Cast for Star Trek. In addition to the awards that he has won, he has also been nominated for numerous others.

Sine Star Trek Beyond is in the post-production stages, it is unlikely that the film is going to be pushed back from its scheduled opening of July 22. Yelchin, who played Chekov in the series, received a considerable amount of praise for his portrayal.

In addition to Star Trek Beyond, Yelchin was also involved in other films that are going to be released over the next year. Rememory, which is listed in its post-production stages, has an unknown release date. Yelchin plays a character named Todd in that film. Thoroughbred, which has a release date of 2017, is also in its post-production stages.

As with other celebrities who have died young, most notably Heath Ledger and Paul Walker in recent years, it is likely that Yelchin’s final films will be dedicated to him. In addition to Furious 7 being dedicated to Walker, the song and music video “See You Again” by Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa was also inspired by him. Since Walker passed away before the end of filming, the studio had to use his brothers and CGI to complete the movie. It is unknown whether or not this will have to be done for Yelchin and his final films.

While The Dark Knight only included a tribute to Ledger after the film had ended, Furious 7 actually included a tribute to Walker within the movie at the end. That is another possibility for Yelchin to be honored as his final projects are released over the next year.

With the shocking news of Anton Yelchin’s death just coming out, it is likely that more and more celebrities continue to pay their respects to the young and talented actor.

[Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for 2015 Tribeca Film Festival]

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