Eugene Yelchin

Education and early career

Yelchin was born in Leningrad, Russia, to a Jewish family. In 1979, Yelchin graduated from the St. Petersburg State Theater Academy. From 1979 to 1983 he designed sets and costumes for leading Russian theater companies including Alexandrinsky (Pushkin’s) Theater and Akimov Comedy Theater in St. Petersburg. In 1979-80, with a group of peers from the Theater Academy he co-founded Tomsk Children’s Theater in Siberia. In 1983 Yelchin emigrated to the United States. In 1988 Yelchin graduated from the Southern California Film School in Los Angeles and began directing TV commercials and illustrating advertising campaigns.

Books for children

In 2006 at the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators conference Yelchin received Tomie DePaola Illustration Award and began writing and illustrating books for children. His books have been published by Scholastic Press, Henry Holt, HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster, Roaring Brook Press, Candlewick, Clarion Books and Harcourt. In 2010 his illustrations for The Rooster Prince of Breslov received a National Jewish Book Award. In 2011/2012 Won Ton, A Cat Tale Told In Haiku that he illustrated received over forty awards. In 2012 Breaking Stalin’s Nose, a middle grade novel that he wrote and illustrated received Newbery Honor and has been translated into ten languages. In 2017 his novel The Haunting of Falcon House received Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators’ Golden Kite Award for middle grade fiction.

Painting

Yelchin’s paintings and drawings have been exhibited along with former Soviet non-conformist artists in “Russian Revolutions: Generations of Russian Jewish Avant-Garde Artists” at the Mizel Center for Arts and Culture (2002), “Territories of Terror: Mythologies and Memories of the Gulag in Contemporary Russian-American Art” at Boston University (2006), and "Shattered Utopia: Russian Art of the Soviet and Post-Soviet Periods" at Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art (2010). Yelchin is a member of the Jewish Artists Initiative of Southern California. His paintings and drawings are represented by Sloane Gallery of Contemporary Russian Art.

Awards

(For Breaking Stalin's Nose)

Other works

Yelchin created original storyboards for the popular Coca-Cola Polar Bears campaign. He also created the illustrations for the opening credits of the HBO series Rome and designed characters for the animated feature Rango (2012 Oscar for Best Animated Feature).