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: Tag der Abrechnung (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 - Die zweite Chance (1992) for which he was nominated for an IFP Spirit award
for best supporting actor. He has also starred in Wilde Kastanien (1993) with Kathy Bates,
Little Odessa - Eiskalt wie der Tod (1994) with Tim Roth, Die Grasharfe (1995) with Walter Matthau and Barbet Schroeder's Davor und danach - Nichts ist, wie es war (1996).
He also starred opposite Edward Norton in Tony Kaye's controversial and
gripping drama American History X (1998) and in the hit comedy Der 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, I cavalieri che fecero l'impresa (2001).
