Edward Walter Furlong (born August 2, 1977) is a Saturn Award-winning American actor, best known to film audiences as John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Daniel Vinyard in American History X.

Furlong was born in Glendale, California, near Burbank, the son of Eleanor (née Tafoya), a youth-center worker, and an unknown father. He is of Mexican descent on his mother`s side,[2] and also has Russian and possibly Native American ancestry.[3] Furlong has a younger half-brother, Bobby Torres, from his mother`s marriage to Moises Torres. Furlong moved in with his aunt and uncle, Nancy Tafoya and Sean Furlong, in 1990; the two gained legal guardianship of Furlong in September 1991 and subsequently lost it to his mother in August 1993. Furlong attended Charles W. Eliot Middle School in Altadena, and South Pasadena Junior High School in South Pasadena, California.

Furlong began his film career as John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a role that earned him an MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Role and a Saturn Award for best young actor. He was discovered for the part by casting director Mali Finn while visiting the Pasadena Boys and Girls Club. He followed this role with a string of moderately successful films and indies, sharing screen with Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson in Before and After, Tim Roth in Little Odessa, and Anthony Edwards in Pet Sematary Two.

He released an album in Japan called Hold on Tight, which included a cover track of The Doors hit "People Are Strange". In 1998, he starred in American History X alongside Edward Norton. He also starred as Hawk in the 1999 film Detroit Rock City.

Furlong played the lead in the fourth film in The Crow series, The Crow: Wicked Prayer, alongside David Boreanaz, Tara Reid, Dennis Hopper and Macy Gray. In 2006, Furlong appeared as a guest star on two episodes of the television program CSI: NY.

Furlong married Rachael Bella on April 19, 2006, and the couple`s son, Ethan Page Furlong, was born on September 21, 2006. Furlong is a supporter of animal rights and has campaigned for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In 2004, he was arrested for trying to remove lobsters from a grocery store in Kentucky where he was filming the independent film Jimmy and Judy.

Furlong was reportedly not asked to reprise his role as John Connor in the Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines sequel due to a substance abuse problem. In a 2006 interview, Furlong acknowledged struggling with cocaine and heroin addiction earlier in his career, but stated he had been sober for four years.

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