A talented actor with angular, androgynous looks and a hardened yet fragile air perfectly suited for portraying troubled youth, Edward Furlong first appeared onscreen in James Cameron's 1991 action blockbuster "Terminator 2: Judgment Day". Discovered at the Pasadena Boys Club in his native California by the film's casting agent, Furlong proved an asset to the film, his work as spunky John Connor standing up well alongside performances by stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton. "T2" resulted in the actor's idol status, with fans worldwide swooning over the talented and striking dark-haired teen. The horror movie "Pet Sematary Two" followed (1992), with Furlong in the starring role, this time dodging less concrete evils than the cyborgs of his first effort. Proving a range that surpassed action movies, Furlong next appeared in the grim indie "American Heart" (1993) as the son of Jeff Bridges' ex-con character. The young actor gave an insightful performance as a street cultured dreamer united with his detached father in this gritty and touching story of family. As the son of Kathy Bates in the 1950s set drama "A Home of Our Own" (also 1993), Furlong again took a role in a film depicting a family relationship that withstood hardships, even as his own real-life family was proving less enduring. On the heels of these strong performances, Furlong was featured in the little-seen virtual reality actioner "Brainscan" (1994), a sci-fi themed murder mystery. The next year he was back on track with a supporting role in the dark organized crime saga "Little Odessa", earning acclaim for his performance as a budding con man alongside such notables as Vanessa Redgrave and Tim Roth. Also that year, Furlong played a sensitive orphan handed over to his aunts, one sweet and one sour (Piper Laurie and Sissy Spacek), in "The Grass Harp", a capable adaptation of Truman Capote's touching novella.
1996 saw him take his troubled teen image a step further as accused murderer Jacob Ryan in "Before and After", his haunting work giving Barbet Schroeder's alternately praised and panned film an added note of credibility. Furlong's reserved performance, incorporating an almost ethereal quality that made the character himself a mystery, gave so little away that the issue of whether or not the boy committed the crime seemed an entirely plausible question, even for his parents (Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson). Furlong took his first stab at comedy in John Waters' 1998 effort "Pecker". As the title character, an enthusiastic amateur photographer from Baltimore discovered and thrust into the New York City spotlight, Furlong portrayed what could be described as a sunny character for the first time. Brimming with a good-natured innocence and lightness absent from his earlier work, the role showed the actor's capabilities and Waters succeeded in eliciting from him a sweetly comedic performance, although the film itself wasn't held in such esteem as the director's previous jolting films. Later that year Furlong acted as the younger brother of Edward Norton's redeemed neo-Nazi character in the controversy-plagued "American History X". While the problems surrounding the production threatened to overshadow the film, the performances stood strong, and Furlong's was no exception. As the easily led Danny, the focal point of the narrative, he again deftly handled the complex emotions of a conflicted young character. Next up for Furlong was a very different role as one of a group of friends on a quest to attend a sold out KISS concert in the 70s-era teen comedy "Detroit Rock City" (1999).