Born in Glendale, California, Edward 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 Conner in what turned out to be one of the the biggest box-office hits of the 1990s, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. 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 for which he was nominated for an IFP Spirit award for best supporting actor. He has also starred in A Home of Our Own with Kathy Bates, Little Odessa with Tim Roth, The Grass Harp with Walter Matthau and Barbet Schroeder's Before and After.

He also starred opposite Edward Norton in Tony Kaye's controversial and gripping drama American History X and in the hit comedy Pecker. More recently, Furlong has been opposite Willem Dafoe in the prison drama Animal Factory, directed by Steve Buscemi. He recently starred in Pupi Avati's 11th-century tale, Cavalieri che fecero l'impresa, I ("The Knights of the Quest").


He was discovered by casting director Mali Finn at the Boys Club of Pasadena, and won the part of "John Connor" in the 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Former girlfriend and manager Jacqueline Louise Domac has gone to the courts to request 15% of Edward's earnings for the last three years, charging abuse and breach of contract. Is a vegetarian. 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. 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. Rated #69 in VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid Stars". 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. Was born in the same hospital as One Tree Hill actress and fashion designer Julie Krystina.