According to Jenny Houser, the spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department, Yelchin was standing behind his car parked in his driveway at his Los Angeles home early on Sunday morning, when the vehicle rolled backwards, pinning him against a security fence. The LAPD officer informed the media that the police are not sensing any foul play, but the accident is still under investigation.
Yelchin's publicist Jennifer Allen told E! News that he had been on his way to meet friends for a rehearsal and when he did not show up, they went to his house and found his body.
The Russian-born Yelchin started small with roles in indie films and various television shows, before breaking out in films like the crime thriller Alpha Dog and the teenage comedy Charlie Bartlett.
However, his biggest role to date has been in the 2009 Star Trek remake, where he assumed the role of Pavel Chekov, the young navigator on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.
The third of the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek Beyond comes out in July.
A number of actors and others who worked with Yelchin took to social media with tributes and expressions of dismay.
"Still in shock. Rest in peace, Anton," Justin Lin, who directed Yelchin in his third Star Trek movie, wrote on Twitter. "Your passion and enthusiasm will live on with everyone that had the pleasure of knowing you."
"I loved Anton Yelchin so much," wrote John Cho, who played Yelchin's fellow Enterprise crew member Sulu in the remake. "He was a true artist – curious, beautiful, courageous. He was a great pal and a great son. I'm in ruins."
Yelchin has appeared in numerous films and was in the TV series Huff, starring Hank Azaria, who wrote on Twitter that he was devastated. "He was a very sweet kid. My heart goes out to his family."
Yelchin made his on-screen acting debut in 2000 in an episode of ER. As a teenager, Yelchin gained wide attention appearing with Anthony Hopkins in Hearts in Atlantis (2001) and with Robin Williams in House of D (2004). He went on to star in shows such as The Practice, and Curb Your Enthusiasm before being cast as Chekov.
He played Jacob Clarke in the Steven Spielberg's mini-series Taken and also appeared in films like Terminator Salvation, Fright Night, and Only Lovers Left Alive between 2007 and 2013.
Yelchin, an only child of two professional figure skaters, was born in St Petersburg and emigrated to the United States as a baby. He briefly flirted with skating lessons, before choosing acting as his profession.
"I loved the improvisation part of it the most, because it was a lot like just playing around with stuff. There was something about it that I just felt completely comfortable doing and happy doing," Yelchin told The Associated Press in 2011 while promoting the romantic drama Like Crazy. He starred opposite Felicity Jones.
"(My father) still wanted me to apply to college and stuff, and I did," Yelchin said. "But this is what I wanted."
Sources: Reuters, The Independent, Associated Press