Whatever Happened To John Connor Actor Edward Furlong From Terminator 2: Judgment Day?

Edward Furlong will forever be remembered as John Connnor, the juvenile delinquent turned leader of the human resistance in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." Prior to his appearance in the film, however, Furlong had no experience, having been plucked from the steps of a boys club in Southern California and thrown straight into the greatest action movie ever made. James Cameron's 1991 classic was a huge hit that set a precedent for every sci-fi actioner that came in its wake. Sadly, that wake also left Furlong adrift. 

You often hear it said that actors are a "revelation," but in Furlong's case it was actually true. In "T2" the 13-year-old not only projected an authentic sense of wayward SoCal teen ennui but performed admirably in several scenes that demanded complex, raw emotion. All of this came in what was the teen's very first acting role, which seemed to signal the arrival of a major new star.

Sadly, Furlong endured all manner of personal struggle in the years after "T2." Family issues and substance abuse continued to hound him as he slipped from the spotlight and became submerged in something much more unseemly. This ultimately stalled what was one of the most promising careers in Hollywood but somehow Furlong managed to maintain an acting career throughout. Though he isn't one of the many child stars who went on to win an Oscar, he has stayed remarkably consistent considering his tumultuous personal life, and today remains a fixture at fan conventions while still appearing in films.

In the documentary "T2: Reprogramming the Terminator" (via Entertainment Weekly) Edward Furlong recalled being cast in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day. "I was in a place called the Pasadena Boys Club. [Casting director Mali Finn] says, 'Can I have you come and audition for a movie? I can't tell you what it is, but take my number down, and call me.'" Several auditions later he landed the role of John Connor. His life was never the same.

At the time he was cast, Furlong was living with his aunt and uncle after his mother gave him up. "T2" was the break he needed. Easily the best of all the "Terminator" movies, it made $515 million and became the biggest movie of 1991 domestically. Matching that success was never going to be easy, but Furlong didn't help when he followed it up with an awful Stephen King movie: "Pet Sematary 2."

The movie did manage to bring in $57.4 million on an $11.5 million budget but garnered mixed reviews. Furlong then starred alongside Jeff Bridges in the 1992 drama "American Heart" before playing the son of Kathy Bates' widow in Tony Bill's "A Home of Our Own." As a 1994 Entertainment Weekly report reveals, in January 1993, Bill sent a letter to Furlong's agent in which he claimed to have been "astounded" and "dismayed" to find that "in over eight weeks of shooting, not once did [Furlong's] guardians ask me about his performance, his abilities, or his problems." The director went on to ask, "Who's taking care of this kid?" before reminding Furlong's agent, "Eddie Furlong didn't choose the movies, the movies chose him and it has taken a heavy toll." Little did Bill know, Furlong's troubles were just starting.

When you kick off your career with one of the best action movies of all time, it's tough to maintain your momentum. Throw in a fraught personal life and it's nigh on impossible. That's essentially what happened to Edward Furlong in the wake of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." As Entertainment Weekly reported in 1994, the actor's "T2" casting put him at the center of a "bickering triangle of guardians" including his mother, aunt and uncle, the lawyer in charge of Furlong's estate, and the young actor's "live-in lover" Jacqueline Louise Domac. Meanwhile, Furlong was trying to keep his acting career afloat.

For a while, it seemed to be working. After "A Home of Our Own," Furlong continued to land roles in high-profile productions. He starred alongside Tim Roth in the 1994 crime drama "Little Odessa" before joining Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson in another crime drama, 1996's "Before and After." In 1998, he played what is arguably his second best role in Tony Kaye's "American History X." The film starred Edward Norton as Derek Vinyard, a reformed neo-Nazi who's desperate to prevent his younger brother, Danny Vinyard (Furlong), from falling prey to the same twisted ideology that claimed his own youth. Norton earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination, but Furlong's performance was just as impressive, drawing praise from critics across the board.

That's a good thing, too, considering he found the character's racism difficult to portray. As Furlong told the Los Angeles Times, "It's pretty intense, having to say this incredibly hateful stuff. After some scenes, Ed [Norton] and I look at each other and just go, 'Ugh! What are we doing?'" Still, "American History X" was a high point in Furlong's career, which would soon take a dramatic slide.

In 1992, after the success of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," Edward Furlong released his own album in Japan. "Hold On Tight" was packed with pop bops and power ballads and seemed to do relatively well, though actual sales figures are hard to come by. It remains Furlong's only record, though he did appear in the 1993 music video for Aerosmith's "Livin' on the Edge" and Metallica's 2004 music video for "The Unnamed Feeling." By that point, however, his acting career had taken a nosedive.

After playing convict Ron Decker in Steve Buscemi's neo-noir "Animal Factory" in 2000, Furlong's substance abuse issues began to derail his career. He first checked into rehab that same year following several arrests for drug charges. It didn't work. Perhaps unsurprisingly, most of his projects around this time were direct-to-video films. Soon, however, it seemed as though the franchise that launched his career back in 1991 was about to save him once again.

2003's "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" was the first of many legacy sequels that got progressively more abysmal as they went, muddying up the "Terminator" timeline in the process. Alas, Furlong didn't return to play John Connor in "Terminator 3," though he was initially cast in the role. Instead, Nick Stahl played Connor after Furlong overdosed on drugs and subsequently lost the part. 

By 2006, he'd seemingly kicked the drugs and settled down with actor Rachael Bella. The pair had a son together and in a 2006 People interview Furlong seemed to have finally put his demons behind him. As he told the outlet, "I don't even think about [partying] anymore. It seems lonely now." But there was still more trouble ahead.

Though the early to mid 2000s were rough for Edward Furlong, he did continue to work sporadically. The actor became part of the long and dark history of the "Crow" franchise when he appeared alongside David Boreanaz and Tara Reid in 2005's "The Crow: Wicked Prayer." In 2006, he made his TV debut with a recurring role on CBS's "CSI: New York," playing villain Shane Casey and appearing in five episodes between 2006 and 2010.

Behind the scenes, however, Furlong was still going through major personal struggles. In 2009, his wife Rachael Bella filed for divorce and took out a restraining order against her husband, who she accused of domestic violence following a drug-fueled meltdown. Further charges of assault came in 2012 when Furlong was arrested for allegedly assaulting his then girlfriend Monica Keena. Things continued like this throughout the first half of the 2010s, with Furlong running afoul of the authorities several more times.

After a 2016 arrest for being under the influence of an illicit substance, however, he spent a year at Wavelengths Recovery in Huntington Beach which seemed to be the point at which he turned things around. Reflecting on the experience in a 2022 Daily Mail interview, Furlong — then four years sober — said, "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."

Incredibly, the actor was still working during these tumultuous times, starring in 2010's "This Is Not a Movie" and appearing in the poorly-reviewed Seth Rogen comedy "The Green Hornet" in 2011. He also landed roles on TV shows including "Star Trek: Renegades" and appeared in multiple direct-to-video horror and action movies.

After finally getting sober, Edward Furlong continued to appear in smaller, independent films and direct-to-video fare. But in 2019 he finally made it back to the "Terminator" franchise. Furlong reprised the role of John Connor in 2019's "Terminator: Dark Fate." Unfortunately, he only appeared in a prologue sequence in which John is murdered by one of Skynet's cyborgs. What's more, Furlong himself didn't exactly appear on-screen. Instead, he acted as a digital double for what would be a CGI de-aged version of himself. As he told Forbes, "They had a monitor and I was acting off the image on the monitor. It's very, very technical." 

Still, the fans were happy to see him back, and have continued to support Furlong at conventions and other events, where he's been a mainstay of late. In December 2025, he reunited with former "Terminator" stars Robert Patrick, Linda Hamilton, and Michael Biehn at Steel City Con. Evidently, the actor considers it "a blessing" to be able to appear at such events, telling Forbes that he doesn't "take it for granted."

Meanwhile, Furlong has continued to work, appearing in the 2023 crowdfunded horror, which also featured the return of Shelley Duvall, "The Forest Hills." His most recent project is 2024's "Unspeakable: Beyond the Wall of Sleep," a cosmic horror based on H.P. Lovecraft's 1919 short story "Beyond the Wall of Sleep." 

Reflecting on his younger self and what advice he might give, Furlong told Forbes, "I would just tell myself to relax and actually kind of have fun. I'd tell myself, 'It's ok, man. Life is good. Life is fun.' But it's cool. I'm glad to kind of be realizing that in my 40s."