'Terminator 2's Edward Furlong Lost Job, Fame & Even Teeth — He Looks 'Unrecognizable' Yet Happy He's 'Still Alive'

• Edward Furlong was discovered by chance while casting for "Terminator 2."
• The star lost it all after his life took a turn in typical child actor fashion.
• Eventually, Edward was able to reboot his career, build a healthy relationship with his son, and kick his bad habits.

When 1991's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" was casting for the role of John Connor, they weren't looking for a new star, but one of the problems they faced was they needed a street-smart child for the role.

They also wanted a tough child, but all the professional actors they saw didn't have toughness. When they tried acting angry or tough, they looked ridiculous, unreal, and unbelievable.

The casting people didn't want a jock who looked like they could handle anything thrust upon them. The perfect child for the role had to have "a quality in him that needed protecting," so in the summertime, casting director Mali Finn went to camps and motocross races looking for the right person.

She looked at theaters and organizations like Boy's and Girl's Clubs and eventually contacted the Pasadena Boy's Club. At the camp, Finn saw one child leaning up against a wall by the swimming pool, Edward Walter Furlong.

Furlong, who was born in Glendale, California, recalled a woman staring at him and smiling, and he thought she was weird. The young boy snarled when the woman approached him and asked if he wanted to audition for a movie.

A few days later, he received a call asking if he remembered the woman he'd spoken to that day. He was informed that she was the casting director for "Terminator 2" who wanted him to audition for the part of Connor!

Furlong was thrilled, and that night he told his foster parents, aunt, and uncle that someone wanted him to try out for the movie. He was unsure of the offer's legitimacy, but after his first interview, he was asked to try out with Linda Hamilton.

Without any acting knowledge, Furlong's audition didn't turn out as expected. He was bashful and failed to perform well; he was almost written off the list of potentials for the role. The boy couldn't memorize and repeat things right away as he was nervous and inexperienced, but Finn kept asking for another chance.

To help Furlong, they got him an acting coach. When the boy went in for his final interview, he thought he wasn't going to get the role, but thanks to the coaching he received, he got the part!

Furlong earned an MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Role for "Terminator 2" and a Saturn Sci-Fi Award for Best Young Actor. After that, he worked with independent and studio films appearing in 1992's "American Heart." He was nominated for an IFP Spirit Award for that role

He also appeared in 1993's "A Home of Our Own," 1994's "Little Odessa," 1995's "The Grass Harp," 1996's "Before and After," and 1998's "American History X" and "Pecker," but he failed to hold on to his fame.

Edward's Fall from Grace

In September 1990, when Furlong met Finn at the boy's club, he was a guarded 13-year-old whose mother, to Eleanor Tafoya, a youth center worker, left him to live with relatives because of her difficulties. He was a child star a year later, and his family wasn't given time to deal with that change.

After signing with CAA in 1997, Furlong appeared in "Pet Sematary Two," amongst many other roles, but behind the scenes, his guardians fought over finances and power, failing to protect him as a child actor. Included in the fight was Tafoya, who'd left Edward's stepfather, Moses Torres, and wouldn't tell him who his biological father was.

After she let her son stay with her siblings, Tafoya got nominal guardianship of him in August 1993. Her sister, Nancy Tafoya, and half-brother, Sean Furlong, took Furlong in May 1990 and won custody in September 1991.

Bruce Ross, a Los Angeles lawyer, was appointed as the young boy's financial guardian in September 1991. In September 1992, Furlong's stand-in on "Terminator 2," Jacqueline Louise Domac, became his private tutor and later his alleged live-in girlfriend after bringing him to her Los Angeles home in September 1993.

In a 1994 interview, Furlong and Domac refused to comment on his personal life. After James Cameron, the "Terminator 2" director, signed the boy, he called Sean, asking him if they knew what they were getting into.

Soon after production for the film began, a custody battle between Tafoya and her siblings began, upsetting Furlong. However, one of the movie's producers, B.J. Rack, said the boy was fine and could put the drama behind him to perform.

Luckily, when Furlong appeared in "Pet Sematary Two," there were no incidents, but when he signed to star in "A Home of Our Own," the drama started again. Domac was suspected of having a romantic interest in Edward, then 15, when she came on to tutor him and the film's other underage actors.

She was fired after she was found wrestling playfully with Furlong and another child, but Sean and Nancy didn't believe she did anything wrong and kept her as the boy's tutor. After his mother was reinstated as his guardian, Furlong lived with Domac and supported her with his allowance.

Ross figured taking the allowance away wouldn't make the actor return to live with Tafoya. The attorney anticipated that the young actor would much rather work at a fast-food restaurant and live in a hotel.

Former child star and head of A Minor Consideration, Paul Petersen, noted how Tafoya called the organization for support after her son left. However, professionals and other grown-ups told Furlong he could live the way he was instead of remembering that he was a child.

In 2019, Furlong confessed that acting as Connor changed his life, and he could make a living. However, after appearing in his 1998 films, his career never fully rebounded because of his behavior.

Furlong's difficult life began before he was discovered, and he sued for emancipation at age 15 after his breakout role. He never finished high school and abused alcohol, then went to rehab.

In the early 2000s, Tafoyar's son was accused of domestic violence by his estranged wife, Rachel Bella, and found himself in jail in 2013 for violating her restraining order.

The actor was arrested several times between October 2012 and May 2013 for felony and misdemeanor domestic abuse. His girlfriend also got a restraining order against him, and in March 2013, he was sentenced to 180 days for violating his probation and violating the girlfriend's restraining order.

Looking back at his troubled past, the actor, then-42, admitted, "It was literally overnight success," and he just couldn't handle it as a kid, so he ended up getting into things that weren't good for him.

The star confessed he was a child experiencing many things he couldn't process. He recalled how crazy his earlier career was to him, adding:

"It's insane for a little kid to get that much power. Especially if you don't really have any parents."

In 1996, an 18-year-old Furlong, who held the title of a "hot" teenage star and looked like a sweet child who'd lived a hard life but had promising adulthood, was fascinated by laser discs, so with his money from "Terminator 2," he went out and bought himself a sound system, and it was like he "was in heaven."

A few years later, his source of happiness became illegal substances, and he started using in his twenties. This problem would continue through the birth of his son, Ethan, in 2006. His situation led him to be arrested multiple times, with him noting how his breakout role was because, at a young age, he was driven and manifested his fame.

Since his 2013 arrest, undergoing illegal substance addiction rehabilitation, and 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling, the actor mostly stayed out of the spotlight. Then there was a surprise announcement about the next "Terminator" movie.

However, social media users noted Edward's prior arrest after the unveiling. That led Jacquie Marroquin, the director of programs at the non-profit California Partnership to End Domestic Violence (CPEDV), to release a statement about how domestic violence could be unlearned.

Marroquin noted how counseling was the initial step and that accountability had to be taken by those around the actor for him to change. However, it was said that the star's progress would take a while, with checks in between.

The non-profit director of programs urged perpetrators to allow justice to take its course for the survivor. Marroquin encouraged taking ownership of one's actions to let healing happen.

Furlong was also offered a contract to reprise his role for 2003's "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," but the offer was pulled out after he overdosed on illegal substances. The actor confessed how it "bummed" him out to lose the role, which went to Nick Stahl.

Furlong returned to the "Terminator" franchise in "Terminator: Dark Fate" in 2019, but his part wasn't significant. Still, it became one of his most high-profile works since his recurring role on "CSI: New York" concluded in 2010. Luckily, the troubled actor got a second chance at life.

Edward's Current Life and Acting Prospects

Following a series of convictions, including one in 2016 for being under the influence of illegal substances, in July 2022, the actor was sober for over four years!

Furlong was relaunching his film career after having finished shooting with Brad Keller in Texas on a project called "Charlie's Horse." Besides rebooting his career, the star also got a new set of teeth from Global Implant Dentistry after his own rotted because of his substance abuse.

A fan who saw a picture of what the actor looked like in January 2020 was shocked by his appearance. The Twitter user said, "To be fair, Edward Furlong is completely unrecognizable there," with another replying:

"At first glance, sure."

Furlong described his new chapter as his "second chance" and shared how great it felt to be sober and back on set. He confessed not feeling hungover when going to work and that there were other sober people, which was weird to him, with the star explaining:

"If you're not sober, you're not hanging out with the other sober people. It was cool."

The celebrity admitted that he enjoyed the experience because he could be more in the moment and loved working. He joked about hopefully not being cast to be a sex worker or something similar.

The actor [Furlong] said it was the bravest thing he'd ever done...

Furlong said it took time to accept having his teeth pulled out and replaced, but now believes it was worth it. He confessed that seeing his rotted teeth had been a negative experience and a reminder of what he'd done, but he was glad he had the procedure.

Looking back on his decades-long career, his advice for his 13-year-old self about to start in Hollywood was, "It's all ok." He'd also advise himself that being in the moment was a good thing, and life should be enjoyed as a whole with its good and bad times.

Furlong said he'd tell himself to relax and have fun because life was good and cool. However, he was glad to be learning that lesson and realizing it in his 40s, and in early 2023 he'd starred in two movies, "The Forest Hills" and "Heart of a Champion."

The actor eventually realized that life was "much easier" than he'd anticipated, and now he liked his sober self more, and other people did too. He and his son have a "wonderful relationship," and he likes how simple his life is lately.

Ultimately, Furlong confessed, "It's amazing I'm still alive – there were a couple of close calls," especially since he was taking drugs by the load and all the time, all day long.

He admitted that once he got in deep, it was hard to see a way out, but he now wanted other people to know there was a way, albeit a difficult one. The actor said it was the bravest thing he'd ever done, and he didn't like being controlled by others or being a slave to something.

Ethan's father now manages to wake up not having to worry about going to jail and being hungover or unable to recall what he did the previous day. In March 2021, he uploaded a picture of his pet showing how he had a dog for company.

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