Edward Furlong
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 11th-century tale, The Knights of the Quest (2001) ("The Knights of the Quest").
Family
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. She never told Edward who his father was, only that the man was of Russian descent.
Personal 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.
