Elijah Wood ‘Can’t Imagine’ How He Once ‘Juggled’ Being a Child Actor and Getting All His Schoolwork Done

Mar. 15, 2025

Elijah Wood in 1996’s ‘Flipper’ (left); Elijah Wood in 2023 (right).Photo:Universal/Getty; Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Universal/Getty; Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Elijah Woodcan’t believe how much he got done in a day as a child actor.

On the Jan. 7 episode ofInside of Youpodcast with Michael Rosenbaum, the 43-year-old reflected on his years asa child star, and how busy he was with schoolwork.The Lord of the Ringsstar said that looking back, he “can’t imagine” how he got all his schoolwork done on set.

Universal Pictures

“My high school was entirely correspondence because at the time, I was traveling a lot, working on films,” he told Rosenbaum. “All of it was like email and writing on my computer and then sending everything to my teacher.”

But theYellowjacketsstar admitted he did feel “anxiety” about balancing his schoolwork and his acting job.

Elijah Wood in 1996’s ‘Flipper’.FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty

FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty

“It’s really interesting to think about it now because I kind of can’t imagine how I managed to juggle those two things,” he explained. “Because you’re supposed to do three hours a day of school on set as the requirement, per the union rules. I was doing that and also remembering my lines and having enough time to divvy those two things up. I kinda can’t imagine it now.” He said it was “wild” to think about, but agreed with Rosenbaum that kids' brains can be more “elastic.”

Wood also credited his mom, Debbie Wood, with instilling in him good values.

“My mom was more concerned with raising me as a good human being than to being a successful actor,” he said. One major thing she taught him, he said, was “humility.” At lunch time, assistant directors would rush actors to the front of the lunch line. “She never let me do that,” he remembered. “She’d be like, “No. Get in line with everybody else.’ ” At the end of the day, she’d “always” have him hang up his costumes, which he still does “to this day.”

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“That created a sort of worldview of how to be both as a professional [and] as a human,” he said.Lord of the Rings, which he booked at age 18, he noted was the first film set he was on as an adult without his mom.

source: people.com