Edward Walter Furlong (born August 2, 1977) is an American actor. He won a Saturn and an MTV Movie Award for his breakthrough performance at age 13 as John Connor in James Cameron's 1991 science fiction action film Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Following Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Furlong earned a second Saturn Award nomination for his work in Pet Sematary Two (1992) and gave an Independent Spirit Award-nominated turn in American Heart (1992). He also won a Young Artist Award for his performance in A Home of Our Own (1993). Furlong starred in the 1998 films Pecker and American History X, receiving another Young Artist Award nomination for his work in American History X. He played leading roles in Detroit Rock City (1999) and Animal Factory (2000).
As an adult, Furlong's career has been affected by substance use. He has spent time in jail and in drug rehabilitation. In 2022, he announced that he had reached four years of sobriety.
Edward Furlong was born August 2, 1977 in Glendale, California. The son of Eleanor Torres (née Tafoya), Furlong is of Mexican descent on his mother's side and has also described himself as "part Russian". Furlong has a maternal half-brother, Robert, who was born in 1981. As of 1991, Furlong had never met his biological father.
In the early part of Furlong's childhood, he and his half-brother were raised by his mother and his stepfather, Torres's then-husband Moises Torres. The couple's marriage ended before Furlong appeared in Terminator 2. Furlong began residing with his aunt, Nancy Tafoya, and his mother's half-brother, Sean Furlong, in 1990 following a disagreement with his mother. A custody battle between Furlong's mother and his aunt and uncle followed. Nancy Tafoya and Sean Furlong obtained custody of Furlong. Initially, when Furlong became an actor, the two served as his managers.
Furlong's uncle, Sean Furlong, filed a statutory rape complaint against Furlong's tutor, Jacqueline Domac. Domac engaged in a romantic relationship with Furlong when he was a minor. Sean Furlong was unsuccessful in having Domac prosecuted.
Furlong did not complete high school.
Furlong began his film career by playing John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He was discovered for the part by casting director Mali Finn while visiting the Pasadena Boys and Girls Club. None of the child actors who had auditioned for the role were "streetwise" enough to portray the character, so Finn looked to recruit someone without acting experience. When Furlong's first reading for the part did not go well, director James Cameron was inclined to look for someone else; however, Finn persuaded him to give Furlong another chance. Ultimately, Furlong was cast as Connor. Terminator 2: Judgment Day was released in the summer of 1991 and became "the biggest movie of 1991" and "one of the great feel-bad blockbusters of all time". His work in the film earned Furlong an MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor.
Furlong's role in Terminator 2 made him a teen heartthrob and a star.
Furlong followed his role in Terminator 2 with appearances alongside Anthony Edwards and Clancy Brown in Pet Sematary Two (1992); Jeff Bridges in American Heart (1992); Kathy Bates in A Home of Our Own (1993); Tim Roth, Maximilian Schell and Vanessa Redgrave in Little Odessa (1994); and Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson in Before and After (1996). He was featured in Aerosmith's music video for "Livin' on the Edge". Furlong received another Saturn nomination for Best Performance by a Younger Actor for his work in Pet Sematary Two, was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Supporting Actor for his work in American Heart, and won a Young Artist Award for Best Youth Actor Leading Role in a Motion Picture Drama for his work in A Home of Our Own.
Furlong starred as Michael Brower, a horror and videogame-obsessed teen, in the horror film Brainscan (1994) and starred in the film adaptation of Truman Capote's The Grass Harp in 1995. Furlong reprised his role as John Connor in a Universal Studios theme park attraction known as T2-3D: Battle Across Time alongside Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Patrick.
In 1998, Furlong played the title role in Pecker, a comedy directed by John Waters, and starred in American History X alongside Edward Norton. For his work in American History X, Furlong was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor. Of his title role in Pecker, Furlong stated, "It's true most of the characters that I've played so far are kind of like suicidal. Really dark roles, which I like. But I wanted to do something different and John gave me a chance to do that." Also in 1998, he starred in the film Detroit Rock City.
Furlong played a convict in Steve Buscemi's film Animal Factory (2000).
Furlong's career as an adult has been affected by substance abuse. His career declined considerably after 2000, with most of his subsequent films being released straight to DVD. In 2001, he played a lead role in the medieval drama The Knights of the Quest, a little-seen film by Italian filmmaker Pupi Avati. He was expected to play John Connor again in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003); however, the role was recast and given to Nick Stahl shortly before filming began. Furlong lost the role due to a drug overdose.
In 2004, Furlong appeared in a music video for Metallica's "The Unnamed Feeling". He also played Jimmy in the low budget independent film Jimmy & Judy (filmed in 2004, released in 2006). He played the eponymous lead in the superhero film franchise The Crow's fourth film, The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2005), co-starring with David Boreanaz and Tara Reid. The film was widely panned by critics and audiences. He appeared in Night of the Demons, the 2009 remake of the 1988 horror classic.
Furlong appeared in seasons three and six of the television program CSI: NY as villain Shane Casey.
Furlong starred in This Is Not a Movie (2010), an English-language Mexican experimental science fiction comedy written and directed by Olallo Rubio and co-starring Peter Coyote and Edi Gathegi. He played a small but important role in Seth Rogen's superhero film The Green Hornet (2011). He played in the 2013 supernatural horror film Awakened, and was featured as Fixer in the science fiction film Star Trek: Renegades (2015).
In July 2019, James Cameron confirmed that Furlong would be returning to the role of John Connor in the then-upcoming science fiction action movie Terminator: Dark Fate. Because the story depicted his character shortly after the events of Terminator 2, Furlong's facial likeness was used via CGI, with teenaged Jude Collie being used as a body double. Furlong was involved in filming for facial capture purposes for the opening scene of the movie, which depicts a young John Connor being killed.