Anton Yelchin was born in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, the son of Irina Korina and Viktor Yelchin, pair figure skaters who were celebrities as stars of the Leningrad Ice Ballet for 15 years. Nationally, Yelchin’s parents were the third-ranked pair team; they thus qualified for the 1972 Winter Olympics, but because they were Jewish, were not permitted to participate by the Soviet authorities. Yelchin’s family moved to the United States in September 1989, receiving status as refugees from political and religious oppression. Yelchin’s mother now works as a figure skating choreographer and his father as a figure skating coach, having been Sasha Cohen’s first trainer.

Yelchin enjoys playing the guitar, saying that it gives him “a lot of fulfillment”, and is a fan of acoustic blues music. He attended the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, in Tarzana, California, and enrolled at the University of Southern California in the fall of 2007 to study film. He currently lives in Burbank Hills, located in the city of Burbank