Celebrity Biographies
Halyna Hutchins
He had a bright future, but a terrible accident ended his life at the age of 42, on October 21, 2021. Halyna Hutchins was shot by actor Alec Baldwin during the filming of the western “Rust” with an alleged blank weapon, in Bonanza Creek Ranch, New Mexico. From there she was transferred by helicopter to the University Hospital in Albuquerque, but once there the emergency personnel certified her death.
Originally from the Ukraine, Halyna Hutchins grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle “surrounded by deer and nuclear submarines,” she used to say. She earned a Master’s in International Journalism from the Kiev National University in Ukraine. After working as an investigative journalist for British documentaries, she traveled to Los Angeles, where she began working in the world of cinema, first as a technician, and later as a cinematographer on short films. She also directed one, Coco Noir , from 2015.
She made her feature cinematographer debut with 2020’s Archenemy . “I think Halyna Hutchins was going to become a very famous and very successful cinematographer,” said Adam Egypt Mortimer , the film’s director. “After we finished filming, many colleagues called me and said ‘she did a good job. We’re thinking of recruiting her for something. She had managed to build a reputation for herself. She showed people what she was capable of.”
From that moment on, Halyna Hutchins did not stop working. Within a year she shot the feature films Blindfire and The Mad Hater , and wrapped up the miniseries A Luv Tale: The series . Apart from her, she also collaborated in several shorts. In 2019, she was selected as one of the Breakout Stars of Today’s Photography by American Cinematographer magazine. She declared that she considered Christopher Doyle and Sergei Urusevsky the great references for her when it came to working.
By being recruited to Rust , she had made the move to mid-budget features with big stars. From the set she published, on social networks, shortly before her death, that she was happy to work in a western film, because during breaks she could ride a horse.