Who Was Halyna Hutchins? The Late 'Rust' Cinematographer's Family, Life and Career

Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on the set of Rust in October 2021 after Alec Baldwin accidentally misfired a loaded gun. She is survived by her husband, Matthew Hutchins, and son, Andros

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchin's death on the set of Rust in October 2021 rocked the film industry.

Halyna died on Oct. 21, 2021, after actor Alec Baldwin mistakenly misfired a prop gun that contained "a live round" while on the set of the Western film at Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico. She was 42 years old.

Following the fatal on-set shooting, Halyna's husband, Matthew, told Insider, "I don't think there are words to communicate the situation." He continued, "I am not going to be able to comment about the facts or the process of what we're going through right now, but I appreciate that everyone has been very sympathetic. I think that we will need a little bit of time before we can really encapsulate her life in a way that is easy to communicate."

Baldwin also said at the time, "There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours."

In the days after the incident, where the film's director Joel Souza was also injured, a Rust crew member told PEOPLE about how the filming environment felt unsafe. They added that there were "a lot of red flags" with armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed (who is responsible for overseeing weapons) and noted that she did not keep the weapons "safe" and "locked up."

In February 2022, Matthew sued Baldwin for wrongful death. The lawsuit was settled in October 2022.

On Jan. 19, 2023, it was announced that Baldwin would face involuntary manslaughter charges for the death of Halyna.

"After a thorough review of the evidence and the laws of the state of New Mexico, I have determined that there is sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Alec Baldwin and other members of the Rust film crew," Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said in a statement. "On my watch, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice."

Baldwin was formerly charged on Jan. 31, 2023. The film's armorer, Gutierrez-Reed, was also charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter.

In February 2023, the parents and sister of Halyna filed their own lawsuit against Baldwin, claiming battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and loss of consortium. Baldwin's attorneys responded to the lawsuit, calling it "misguided" in court documents.

On April 20, 2023, the criminal charges brought against Baldwin in January were officially dropped.

"We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident," the actor's attorneys said in a statement.

In June 2023, a New Mexico court approved a settlement agreement in Hutchins' wrongful death lawsuit. The approval means that Hutchins’ son, Andros Hutchins, will receive compensation for his mother's death.

A New Mexico grand jury charged Alec with involuntary manslaughter again in January 2024. And a few months later, Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty of the same charge. She faces up to 18 months in prison.

From her career in cinematography to her family of three, here's everything to know about the late Halyna Hutchins.

She was from Ukraine

Halyna was born in Ukraine and raised on a Soviet military base in the Artic Circle "surrounded by reindeer and nuclear submarines," according to her website biography.

While Halyna eventually made her way to Los Angeles, her family remained in Ukraine. Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Halyna's husband Matthew tweeted that her parents were "trapped" in Kyiv.

"Halyna's family is trapped in Kyiv because of the danger of travel," Matthew wrote. "Her mother continues to work in the hospital where she has been a nurse for over a decade because her country needs her, but also because they cannot leave safely."

At the time, Matthew's attorneys confirmed to PEOPLE that Halyna's sister and 3-year-old niece made it to the Romanian border and were trying to evacuate.

She was formerly an investigative journalist

Halyna studied international journalism at the Kyiv National University in Ukraine, where she received a graduate degree. She then worked with British documentary productions in Europe as an investigative journalist.

She graduated from AFI Conservatory in 2015

In 2015, Halyna graduated from the AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles. Three years later, she became part of the "inaugural class" of the Fox DP Lab program, a partnership between 21st Century Fox and the American Film Institute. Halyna was one of eight female cinematographers who participated in the program.

The following year, Halyna was selected as one of American Cinematographer's Rising Stars of 2019.

After her death in 2021, a rep for 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 worked on several films

Throughout her career, Halyna worked on many films including Darlin' (2019), Blindfire (2020) and The Mad Hatter (2021). She also served as a cinematographer for the 2020 independent superhero film Archenemy, which starred Joe Manganiello.

The actor said he was "so lucky" to have Halyna as his director of photography for the movie. "She was an absolutely incredible talent and a great person. She had such an eye and a visual style, she was the kind of cinematographer that you wanted to see succeed because you wanted to see what she could pull off next. She was a fantastic person. There was no amount of pressure she couldn't handle. She was a great collaborator and an ally to anyone in front of her camera. Everyone who knew her was rooting for her," he wrote on Instagram in October 2021.

She was a wife and mother

Halyna and her husband, Matthew, first met while he was in college in South Carolina around 2005. She was in the United States on a student visa at the time and the pair crossed paths after class one spring day.

"I saw her and I was like 'Wow, whoa, how do I talk to this girl?' " Matthew recalled during a February 2022 interview with Hoda Kotb for Today. He asked for her phone number but Halyna said she didn't have a telephone so he told her where he worked instead. Halyna then visited Matthew at work and the couple began dating after that.

By January, they were married.

Halyna's friend told PEOPLE in 2021 that the pair had a "beautiful partnership. . . . [They] supported each other's dreams."

The couple later welcomed their first and only child together, Andros, who was 9 years old at the time of Halyna's death. "She was a very joyful mother," Matthew told Kotb of his late wife's bond with Andros.

Matthew also spoke about how she would call Andros nearly every night from the Rust film set. "They would get on a video and she would just do everything that you could as a mom to reassure him," he said. "Just give him kisses ... I think it helped him to get to sleep every night knowing that she was thinking about him."

Her husband described her as "incredibly ambitious"

While speaking to Kotb, Matthew called his late wife "incredibly ambitious."

"Right away when I met her I saw her ambition and I just felt like if I could have that ambition in my life, what could I accomplish?" he said.

Later on in the interview, Matthew shared that Halyna was "very excited" to work on Rust. "We talked a lot about her career and when Rust came along she knew that this was going to be a springboard for her career," he explained, adding, "She wanted to do a Western. She had done horror films and wanted to expand her repertoire."

Halyna shared moments from her time filming the Western on Instagram, including pictures of the New Mexico sky as well as a cast photo. "One of the perks of shooting a western is you get to ride horses on your day off," she captioned a video of herself riding a horse just two days before the fatal shooting.

AFI established a scholarship fund in her name

On Oct. 22, 2021, Halyna's alma mater created a memorial scholarship fund in her name to support female cinematographers. AFI said in a statement, per Deadline, "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."

The scholarship's donation page reads: "As is profoundly true in the art of cinematography, words alone cannot capture the loss of one so dear to the AFI community. 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."

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