Elijah Wood Reflects on Balancing Child Acting and Schoolwork
Elijah Wood considers how difficult it was to juggle his childhood academics and acting career. The 43-year-old ‘Lord of the Rings’ actor expressed his amazement at how he was able to finish his schoolwork while working on movie sets on the ‘Inside of You’ podcast with Michael Rosenbaum. In retrospect, he said that he couldn’t have imagined how he managed to do everything.
After playing a part in ‘Back to the Future Part II’ in 1989 at the age of eight, Wood quickly found himself in several movies every year. ‘Avalon’ (1990), ‘Child in the Night’ (1990), ‘Forever Young’ (1992), ‘Radio Flyer’ (1992), ‘The Adventures of Huck Finn’ (1993), and ‘The Good Son’ (1993) were among his other noteworthy parts.
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He disclosed that because he travelled a lot for his acting jobs in high school, he was enrolled in a correspondence program. His teacher’s emails and homework made up the majority of his education. Wood claimed that this arrangement enabled him to approach his studies with greater focus, and Rosenbaum remarked that it provided him with the “undivided attention” that may be helpful. Since he began his career at the age of eight, having an on-set tutor had been the standard for him by the time he reached high school.
But Wood acknowledged that juggling performing and education was stressful for him. It’s hard to imagine how he balanced the two, he said. Wood had to juggle learning his lines and getting ready for his acting roles with the three hours a day of schoolwork that kid performers were expected by union regulations to complete while on site. He agreed with Rosenbaum that children’s brains are more flexible, which probably helped him handle everything, but he called it “wild” to consider now.
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Wood also gave tribute to his mother, Debbie Wood, for instilling in him a sense of humility and teaching him important lessons. He remembered how his mother always demanded that he wait his turn, even if assistant directors would try to push performers to the front of the lunch line. She also ensured that he would hang up his costumes after a long day of filming, a custom he still adheres to now.
–Farheen Ali
