Jesse Eisenberg Says He's 'So Thankful' When His Son, 5, Acts Like Wife Anna: 'Just Be Like Her'

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Jesse Eisenberg is opening up about life as a dad.

Speaking about directing When You Finish Saving the World, a film that focuses on the relationship between a mom (Julianne Moore) and her budding influencer teenager (Finn Wolfhard), Eisenberg shared rare comments on Today Thursday about his own family life.

Asked if the movie made him think about his relationship with his own 5-year-old son, Banner, whom he shares with wife Anna Strout, The Social Network actor said he's "both terrified for my child having any autonomy whatsoever, and I'm also so thankful when he exhibits different personality traits than me."

"I was just praying, probably like a lot of parents, please don't have all the things I have that I hate about myself," the actor/director, 39, continued.

"I married an amazing woman, I'm praying just be like her, just be like her, please just be everything like her. And for the most part, he's heading in that direction which is the superior choice."

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At the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, where he appeared in support of The Hummingbird Project, Eisenberg shared insight into being a dad.

"I don't think I care any less about my work, or like it any less – in some ways, I like it more because it's my one opportunity to get away for a few minutes!" the then-new dad shared. "But I do think if humans have the unconscious desire at all to be immortal, maybe that feeling of immortality is being accounted for in another way through their children, rather than through their work, so maybe it takes the pressure off that."

When talking about managing his own mental health, he quipped, "Just selfishly, having a child is the best thing anyone can do for their own anxiety, if your anxiety is like mine, which is to say based in fantasy."

"Because I spent the first 30 years worrying about things that were invisible, and now I get to worry about something that's visible, and there's nothing that's more mentally healthy than worrying about something that's actually existing in the world, rather than worrying about something that doesn't exist at all."

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Eisenberg and Strout dated for nearly a decade before splitting in 2012. They later reconciled and the pair were seen back together for the first time at a basketball game in January 2017.

Back in 2011, Eisenberg revealed to Seventeen that Strout was the only woman he'd ever dated.

"I find people who want to help other people to be the most interesting," the Justice League actor told Seventeen of what attracts him.

"I come from a family of teachers, and my friends are teachers, often times in very difficult school situations," he added. "My job is so selfish and focused on my own vanity that I like to surround myself with people who are actually helping people throughout their day."