What happened to Edward Furlong? See how the actor has changed!

Edward Furlong is the story of yet another of many young Hollywood actors who showed so much promise but fell by the wayside because of his own excesses. The actor rose to fame perhaps too early and gradually faded out of the limelight.

Born in 1977 to a humble family in Glendale, California, he was soon given the opportunity to enter the world of acting. Casting director Mali Finn spotted him at the Boys and Girls Clubs of America in Pasadena and were struck by his "defiant looks and rebellious demeanour".

Edward Furlong entered Hollywood... And entered it with a bang. He played none other than John Connor in 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day', the young man who will lead the human resistance against Skynet and its machine revolution in the future.

After playing the role, Edward Furlong who, by his own admission, was originally not very into acting, declared: "I fell in love (with acting), it wasn't something I planned," he told Forbes in an interview.

The role of John Connor also earned Edward Furlong two important awards to boost to a career that had only just begun and had a long way to go. They were the MTV Movie Awards for Best Newcomer of 1992 and a Saturn Award for Best Newcomer that same year.

In the wake of the success of 'Terminator 2', doors opened for side projects such as modelling for Calvin Klein, and even the rock band Aerosmith signed him to appear in the music video for their song 'Livin' on the Edge'.

"At the beginning of my career I remember it was crazy for me. It's crazy for a little kid to get so much power. Especially if you don't have parents," he admitted in the interview with Forbes magazine.

From his time in 'Terminator 2', he is also remembered for two personal stories: a brief relationship with Soleil Moon Frye ('Punky Brewster') and another five-year relationship with his manager, Jacqueline Domac (pictured) - 13 years his senior - from whom he eventually separated in 1998, after which she accused him of physical abuse.

Professionally, the years that followed saw Edward Furlong appear in numerous independent and more commercial films, including 'American Heart' (1992), starring Jeff Bridges as Nick; 'Little Odessa' (1994), starring Tim Roth as Reuben Shapira; and 'Before and After' (1996), in which he played Jacob Ryan alongside Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson.

1998 saw the other great role of his career and another characters that many remember him for: that of the young neo-Nazi Danny Vinyard, brother of the main character, Derek (Edward Norton) in 'American History X' (1998).

At that time, Edward Furlong's problems with all kinds of illegal substances and alcohol had begun to reach a dangerous point. He had started attending Alcoholics Anonymous a year earlier, in 1997, as well as entering a treatment centre.

"It was literally overnight success. It was insane. I’m still coming to grips with the shock and awe of it all… I got into things that weren’t good for me - for a long time. I was a kid who had a lot happening all at once. And I wasn’t really able to process it" the actor admitted during a 'Days of the Dead' horror film convention.

The treatment centre didn't do much good and things went from bad to worse, despite starting the new century in a positive professional way with 'Animal Factory', directed by Steve Buscemi. All this led to him having to enter another rehabilitation centre at the end of 2000, something he always blamed on alcohol consumption and not on more dangerous substances, as was suspected at the time.

The year 2001 was to be an eventful one for the actor. In April he was hospitalised for an alleged overdose, after a friend found him unconscious in a pool of vomit. Meanwhile, in September he was arrested on two occasions, the first for driving without a licence and the second for drinking and driving.

This would not be the only arrest in Edward Furlong's life. Three years later, in September 2004, he was arrested again by the Florence (Kentucky) Police on a misdemeanour charge for causing an incident in a fruit shop under the influence of alcohol, while he was in the middle of shooting the independent film 'Jimmy and Judy' (2006).

During those years, Edward Furlong did not leave the world of acting, although his career took him through B-movies, with appearances in more commercial films such as the fourth instalment of 'The Crow: Wicked Prayer' (2005), which had little success, and 'Darfur' (2009).

In 2006, he was also seen on television in the series 'CSI: NY/Crime Scene Investigation', where he played the role of Shane Casey in two episodes.

He was linked to actresses Natasha Lyonne, Jolene Blalock, Liz Levy, and even Paris Hilton, but the great relationship of his life ended up being with actress Rachael Bella (pictured). He married her and she had his son, Ethan Page. However, the couple eventually broke up in 2009.

Edward Furlong was involved in another major controversy in 2013, for which he could have spent a few years in prison. He was reported and arrested for breaking a restraining order and assaulting his ex-girlfriend, an issue that was added to two other similar issues he had pending.

Since 2009, Edward Furlong continued to work as an actor at a rate of between three and four films a year. To be honest, they were films of little significance such as 'Assault on Wall Street' or 'Awakened'. Until, in 2019, he played his last role to date, strangely enough, the same one he started with: that of John Connor in 'Terminator: Dark Fate', with a small on-screen appearance.

Shortly before this last role, a judge sent the actor back to a rehabilitation programme for six months to combat his drug addiction in 2017. This would mark a definitive change in the actor to finally free himself from the great scourge that has haunted him throughout his life.

As he told the Daily Mail in an interview, "Towards the end, I was shooting loads and loads of heroin, meth, smoking DMT [a psychedelic drug] all the time. That's the way I was all day. It's amazing I'm still alive – there were a couple of close calls. I definitely OD'd but that's the cycle you know."

As a result of his sobriety, he said, "I like myself better, people definitely like me better sober... My son and I have a wonderful relationship. I like how simple my life is these days."

"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." he told the Daily Mail.

He also talked about his future and getting his life back on track as an actor: "Things are slowly turning around and I just want to get my life back to what it was and what I was doing in the first place".

And that's what he's doing because in 2023 he released the movie 'Charlie's Horse', a film directed by Brad Keller, featuring Casper Van Dien, Carson Cunningham, and Morgan Harrington, as well as the thriller 'The Forrest Hills' (image).

He also told the Daily Mail: "I'm not hungover and wondering what I did last night. There's so many awesome things and reasons I do it for. I hope to keep it up."

Today, Edward Furlong is also very active on his Instagram account, where he shares with his followers his appearances at horror, comic book and pop culture conventions, where the actor is well known and acclaimed for his roles in 'Pet Sematary Two' (1992), 'Detroit Rock City' (1999) and, of course, 'Terminator'.

"Basically, my job is to sit on my a.. and sign autographs and let people tell me how awesome I am. The fact that I can do that is both awesome and wrong at the same time," he told Forbes in an interview.

Now, the actor has a new opportunity to start over and resume a career cut short by addictions that seem to be a thing of the past. What does the future hold for Edward Furlong? We will have to wait and see.