Anton Yelchin is one lucky movie star.

Anton Yelchin, the happiest actor you probably haven't heard of yet.

Anton Yelchin may very well be the luckiest actor of the year. The relatively unknown actor scored supporting roles in two of this years biggest summer movies, Star Trek and Terminator Salvation. Although the twenty year old Yelchin is only in supporting roles, both movies are franchises that practically guarantee him plenty of work for years to come.

Born in Leningrad, USSR in 1989, his parents moved to the United States when he was an infant, settling in California. His parents are both professional ice skaters, but Anton got the acting bug at a young age, and made his professional debut in a small part on E.R. at the age of eleven.

For his role in Star Trek as Pavel Chekov, Yelchin had to use a thick Russian accent. Perhaps his parents helped him with it. It is cause for one of the funniest scenes in the movie, but I wonder if citizens of the USSR find it at all offensive? To prepare for the role, he watched the original Star Trek television show and the movies. In an interview with Rebecca Murray for About.com, he explained,“Before you can get to this script, I have to know who he is and who he was and who everyone wants to see, and then bring that to this.”

Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov

Prior to this year, Yelchin appeared in many televison roles, including a recurring role on HBOs Huff. He had several supporting parts in movies. His most notable being Hearts in Atlantis (2001), in which he has twice the amount of screen time as the top billed Anthony Hopkins. In Charlie Bartlett (2007),he sang three songs, “Those Were the Days,”"If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out" and "Yankee Doodle."

In Terminator Salvation, he takes on a role originated by Michael Biehn in The Terminator (1984). The first thing you notice, is that Yelchin looks nothing like Biehn. In the same interview with About.com, he described his approach to playing Kyle Reese. “He’s really, really a complex character and I think playing him when he’s younger allows you the ability to dig into what he was in the first one and say, 'Look, I'm going to take him apart and then sort of show you how he got to that point,' you know?” Hopefully over the next couple of films we will see the gawky Reese turn into the more manly Reese that goes back in time to get laid.

Anton Yelchin has yet to reach the “A” list, and he has yet to become a household name, yet his future looks awfully bright. I wonder though, if he will ever again have two films in the top three at the box office, at the same time, ever again? Hey, he is young. Anything is possible.