Furlong won a Young Artist Award for his performance as the oldest of the brood, but offscreen, his own family life was again in turmoil when his Aunt's guardianship reverted back to his mother. In another film depicting a family relationship challenged by hardship, Furlong played one of six kids being raised by a widow (Kathy Bates) in the considerably more heartwarming 1950s-set drama, "A Home of Our Own" (1993). Ably proving his range with character-based films that relied on subtler performances, Furlong also laid the foundation for future teen-in-crisis parts with his role in the gritty indie film, "American Heart" (1993), in which he gave an insightful - and Independent Spirit Award-nominated - performance as a street-cultured dreamer reunited with his ex-con father (Jeff Bridges). Hollywood directors came calling as well, resulting in Furlong's starring performance as a teen haunted not only by the death of his mother, but by possessed pets in the Stephen King-based horror movie, "Pet Sematary Two" (1992). An overnight sensation on the teen circuit, Furlong received an MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Role, while the Saturn Awards named him Best Young Actor. The novice had also successfully survived a James Cameron film shoot no small feat for many an actor cast in one of the tempestuous director's money-making epics. His life changed again radically when the accidental actor delivered a spunky performance as John Connor that stood up well alongside stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton. The teen's life had been rocky up until that point -he had never met his father, and around the same time he was being courted by Hollywood, he was the subject of an intense custody battle, with his aunt gaining legal guardianship of the teen from his mother. 2, 1977 in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, Furlong was "discovered" by a casting agent for the film "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991) while playing at a Boys Club in nearby Pasadena. From the box office top shelf, Furlong would slide into the junior leagues with a parade of straight-to-video horror films that elicited as much sympathy as Furlong's troubled teen roles, but for different reasons.īorn Aug. Furlong was afforded a few opportunities to showcase a surprisingly funny and lighthearted, awkward charm in John Waters' "Pecker" (1998) and the rock 'n' roll cult hit, "Detroit Rock City" (1999), but by the time the actor reached 20 years old, it was clear that his life off-camera bore an unfortunate similarity to the conflicted, searching characters he embodied so well. Teen magazines turned Furlong into an idol following the success of "T2," but the novice actor went on to earn the genuine respect of critics for a number of performances as hardened yet fragile teens in "American Heart" (1993) as well as "American History X" (1998), a graphic and controversial drama about young neo-Nazi brothers. A decade after his star-making role in James Cameron's action blockbuster "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991), former teen actor Edward Furlong's rap sheet and reported drug use served as a cautionary tale of the downside of young success in Hollywood.
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