Anton Yelchin, best known for playing key roles in the Star Trek and Terminator reboots, has died at the youthful age of 27.

As confirmed by his publicist, the Russian-born actor was killed in a freak car accident on his driveway in California.

Born in Russia 1989, his parents were professional figure skaters who moved the family to the United States when he was a baby.

His acting career began in 2000 when he landed a one-off appearance in the succesful medical series E.R. He then went on to register further roles in Along Came a Spider (2001), Hearts in Atlantis (2001) and a guest contribution in the HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004).

He then featured in the sitcom Huff (2004-06) where he played the son of Hank Azaria’s midlife crisis-suffering psychiatrist.

After then starring in the likes of Fierce People (2005), Alpha Dog (2006) and Charlie Bartlett (2007), he then made his big break in 2009 when he landed the role of two important characters from two of the biggest sci-fi franchises in film history.

He portrayed the part of futuristic hero Kyle Reese in the Terminator reimagination Terminator Salvation and also played Starship Enterprise engineer Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek reboot as helmed by JJ Abrams. The latter film was a critical, box-office success with Yelchin praised for providing some of the blockbuster’s comic-relief.

He would later reprise the role of Chekov for Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and its upcoming sequel Star Trek Beyond which is due out next month.

Yelchin would go on to also star in the romantic-drama Like Crazy (2011) as well as The Beaver (2011), Fright Night (2011), Odd Thomas (2013) and the recent psychological thriller Green Room (2015).

Younger viewers would also recognise his vocal work as Clumsy in the live action Smurfs films (2011-13).

Yelchin was an only child and is survived by his parents.