Biography

Edward Furlong

Jump to

Overview

Born
August 2, 1977 · Glendale, California, USA
Birth name
Edward Walter Furlong
Nickname
- Eddie
Height
5′ 5¾″ (1.67 m)

Biography

Edward Walter Furlong was born in Glendale, California. His mother, Eleanor (Tafoya), is from a Mexican family, and worked at a youth center. Furlong had no acting ambitions until he was approached by casting agent Mali Finn, who was looking for a young actor to play the role of John Connor in what turned out to be one of the the biggest box-office hits of the 1990s, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Finn instantly recognized his ability, and suggested him for the part, feeling that he could hold his own playing opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton.

For his career-starting role, Furlong earned an MTV movie award for best breakthrough role, and a Saturn Sci-Fi award for best young actor. From there, he took an unconventional route through Hollywood, which led to his working with some of the top people in the business, in both studio and independent films. His work has included starring opposite Jeff Bridges in American Heart (1992) for which he was nominated for an IFP Spirit award for best supporting actor. He has also starred in A Home of Our Own (1993) with Kathy Bates, Little Odessa (1994) with Tim Roth, The Grass Harp (1995) with Walter Matthau and Barbet Schroeder's Before and After (1996).

He also starred opposite Edward Norton in Tony Kaye's controversial and gripping drama American History X (1998) and in the hit comedy Pecker (1998). More recently, Furlong has been opposite Willem Dafoe in the prison drama Animal Factory (2000), directed by Steve Buscemi. He recently starred in Pupi Avati's 13th-century tale, The Knights of the Quest (2001).
- IMDb mini biography by: Dr. Frosty

Family

Spouse
Children
Parents
Relatives

Trademarks

Dark menacing glaring eyes.
Usually plays characters that are troubled.
Often plays characters that swear a lot.

Trivia

He was supposed to reprise his role as John Connor in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), but in December 2001 it was reported he had been dropped from the film.
In 1992, he launched a successful music career in Japan and is still extremely popular with Japanese girls today. His debut song "Hold on Tight" even beat Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" to #1 on the Japanese charts.
On 5 October 2012 he publicly asked fans for financial donations so he could afford a liver transplant.
During the shooting of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), his voice changed and he had to loop all of his lines in quite a few scenes. He also grew quite a bit. At the beginning of shooting, he was a few inches smaller than his double and, at the end, he was a little bit taller than him. He even had to stand in a hole during the shooting of some scenes.
(January 13, 2013) Furlong was arrested in Los Angeles, California on suspicion of domestic violence (the third such accusation to hit him since 2012). He was detained at the Men's Central Jail from January 14 to February 2 before finally being released on $31,000 bail.

Quotes

I enjoy playing people that are totally different than me. It's a challenge to get inside these people's heads and wonder why they would have these beliefs.
I never thought I'd reach 21. I used to feel that was old, but growing old doesn't scare me anymore. I just want to have done something super special and have had someone to do it with.
I've always liked women. But I don't want somebody who likes me because I'm famous. I like girls who are intelligent and who are kind of quiet like me.
(1996, Movieline Magazine) If the career doesn't work out, I'll definitely go to college and try another line of work. If that doesn't pan out, I can always go shoot up and be a rock star.
[1996, on landing Before and After (1996)] Barbet (Schroeder) and I met two years ago in an office, and, at the time, he was seeing everybody. It was the role, out of all the scripts I have read, that I really wanted the most. It was almost like such a great part that you don't even have to act to look great on film. Two years later, I got a call from my agent that the movie was on again and that Barbet wanted me and that was that.