Who was Halyna Hutchins?

"Rust" Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins (Getty Images)

Halyna Hutchins was the Ukrainian-born cinematographer who lost her life from the prop gun incident on the set of “Rust.”

She was fatally shot in October 2021 by the prop gun in Alec Baldwin’s hand that unknowingly contained a live round.

Halyna was born in Ukraine and grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle, according to her biography. She earned a graduate degree in journalism from Kyiv National University and worked as an investigative journalist in Europe before moving to Los Angeles to pursue her career. Her family, however, remained in Kyiv. 

The cinematographer worked on several films before “Rust,” including “Archenemy” (2020) and “The Mad Hatter” (2021).

Halyna’s death had a deep impact on the film industry. After her passing, the American Film Institute tweeted, “As is profoundly true in the art of cinematography, words alone cannot capture the loss of one so dear to the AFI community. At AFI, we pledge to see that Halyna Hutchins will live on in the spirit of all who strive to see their dreams realized in stories well told.”

She also left behind a legacy as a wife and mother. Halyna and her husband, Matthew, had one son, Andros, who was nine years old at the time of her death.