Biography
Date of Birth
2 December 1977, Glendale, California, USA
Birth Name
Edward Walter Furlong
Nickname
Eddie
Height
5' 5" (1.65 m)
Mini 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).
Trivia
He was discovered by casting director Mali Finn at the Boys Club of Pasadena, and won the role of John Connor in the sequel film Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
He reprised his Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) character John Connor for the theme park attraction T2-3D, a short film filmed in a new 3-D process that makes the film really appear to jump out at you.
He hooked up with his tutor Jacqueline Louise Domac on the set of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). He was 13 and she was 26. She became his manager and they lived together until 1998. She went to court in 1999 to request 15% of Furlong's earnings for the past three years, charging physical abuse and breach of contract.
(September 25, 2001) Arrested by police in West Hollywood, California, in two separate incidents: 1. for driving without a license 2. for DUI and causing a car wreck (just four hours after the first incident).
Attended Elliot Junior High School and South Pasadena Junior High School before filming Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
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.
Modelled for labels such as "Gap" and Calvin Klein and has advertised for the Japanese food company, "Hot Noodle".
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.
Says on the commentary for The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2005) that Apocalypse Now (1979) is his favorite movie of all time.
Rated #69 in VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid Stars".
Of Mexican descent on his mother's side. His mother's name is Eleanor Tafoya Torres. Furlong is Eleanor's stepfather's last name. His biological father is Heinrich Brüno Wittig.
Edward and his wife, Rachael Bella, became the parents of a boy, Ethan Page Furlong, on September 21, 2006. Ethan weighed in at 7 lbs. 7 oz.
He was supposed to reprise his role as John Connor in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), but he was dropped from the film in December 2001.
Was born in the same hospital as One Tree Hill (2003) actress and fashion designer Julie Krystina.
(August 17, 2010) His estranged wife, Rachael Bella, obtained a temporary restraining order against him.
Can play the piano and the guitar.
Has stated in several interviews that his performance in Little Odessa (1994) is his personal favorite.
(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.
(July 1, 2013) Furlong avoided a jail sentence for an arrest in May after agreeing to go to a rehab for drug addiction for 90 days, as well as undergo 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling. He had already served 61 days in prison.
His Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) character, John Connor, was played on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronciles by Thomas Dekker, who previously appeared in Star Trek: Generations (1994). Edward later appeared in 'Star Trek: Renegades (2014)(TV)'. Both films also featured Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov. In Star Trek (2009), Chekov was played by Anton Yelchin, who played John Connor's father Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation (2009) and is, like Edward, of Russian ancestry.
His partner was Jacqueline Domac who he had met on the set of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). She became is tutor in September 1992. She lived with him from 1992 to October 1998.
Mother is Eleanor Torres, born c. September 1958; she worked as a youth center worker in Pasadena, California. His father is Heinrich "Henry" Brüno Wittig, born c. June 6, 1929; died 1980. His stepfather is Moises Torres, he separated from Furlong's mother in 1989. His Aunt is Nancy Tafoya, born c. 1960. His uncle is Sean Furlong. His step brother is Robert Torres, born c. 1981.
Has done some modeling for the clothing company Calvin Klein in the mid 90s.
Edward Furlong's nickname when he was younger was 'Pook'.
He first went to rehab in October 2000.
He lived with Jacqueline Louise Domac from 1992 to 1998.
Arrested on September 1, 2004 while filming Jimmy and Judy (2006) after a drunken incident.
Arrested a few hours after attending the premiere of The Green Hornet (2011) for non-payment of child maintenance. Furlong told a district judge that he is "completely broke" and cannot afford to pay.
Used to smoke up to sixty cigarettes a day.
In 2012, his access to his six-year-old son was restricted after it was alleged in court that the child, Ethan Furlong had tested positive for cocaine after spending time with Edward Furlong.
On 5 October 2012 he publicly asked fans for financial donations so he could afford a liver transplant.
In February 2015 he admitted he cannot get insurance for film work.
In 1999 it was announced that he was to star as Simon of Clarendon, a young man on a quest for a sacred relic in the 11th Century story The Knights of the Quest to be filmed in Scotland, Italy, France and Tunisia.
Although he played a white supremacist neo-Nazi in "American History X", Furlong is actually half-Mexican. His father was said to be a Russian Jew.
He is Agnostic.
He did not actually appear in "Terminator: Dark Fate". His character was created using CGI with someone else supplying the voice.
Trademarks:
Dark menacing glaring eyes.
Usually plays characters that are troubled.
Often plays characters that swear a lot.
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.
[on filming The Grass Harp (1995)] Definitely a troubled shoot. I'm kind of judgemental because I read the book and that was so beautifully written, I really don't know too much about the trouble, except that the director wasn't really getting along with the studio. They just didn't click. It was a weird shoot.
[1996, Movieline Magazine] I am very, very competitive and ambitious. I would definitely fight hard for a role I believed in. But I will never kiss anybody's ass. No way, man, I would say to Quentin Tarantino, 'Hey, man, pretty awesome', but I wouldn't be like 'Hey, man, let me do one of your movies', even if to do one of his movies would be totally trippy.
[1996, on his level of fame] No gun, no bodyguard, cause that would probably freak me out. It's really not that big yet, my fame. Hopefully it will be that big one day.
When [newspapers and magazines] talk about me, it has nothing to do with my career, so I'm like, whatever. Fans are what matters. Fans I like. Those are the people that go to the movies, pay for the tickets and get me the parts.
Being famous kind of makes you feel like a freak. And you are, in a way.
Who wants to go to school and be asked for, like, 20 autographs?
Little Odessa (1994). Of all my movies, it's the one that I still really love when I watch it and I'm pretty happy with what I did in that.
I don't think anyone has a normal family.
If I was in a room with a bunch of skinheads talking about racism, then I would be disturbed, but after we finished a take, we were normal people again.
Detroit was kind of a random thing where it was like a chance to be in a rock 'n' roll movie.
I know a lot of people my age are still trying to figure out what to do, and I consider myself lucky that I can make a living doing something that I truly enjoy.
It hasn't been a totally smooth road, but in the whole span of things I feel like a very lucky person.
I had a hard time going back to school after T2. I really didn't want to go to private school.
I've always wanted to do a movie that takes place in the 70's and was about rock and roll and getting high, like Dazed and Confused (1993) or Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982).
People aren't born racist.
By the time I'm old, I'm sure I'll have lived a full enough life. I think we're mortal for a reason. Life gets tiring, man!
Jim Cameron used to call me 'Special Ed.'
When I was a kid, the idea of why I wanted acting to be the thing I do for the rest of my life was different. It was, oh yeah, I'll get girls and be famous.
A lot of things that you lose you just can't help - your naiveness and all that.
[on "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines"] It's the growing pains of me. I was part of the project and had a very nice deal but then I guess to celebrate I went out and overdosed on coke and kind of destroyed that whole thing. But I learned my lesson and I'm back on track.
I had a lot of awesome things happen but everything comes with a price, nothing is free. When I was younger, I didn't have too many people looking out for me and I was left to run wild. I didn't know how to manage my money. If I was older, I wouldn't have made so many bad decisions.
I f***ed over so many people when I was on drugs, gaining back the trust of the people that work with you when you've flaked on them so much is a long process. It's like the friendship that happens after a bad breakup - people are learning to trust me again. It's great and things are slowly starting to get going again.
