Jesse Eisenberg may be raising the next major musician.
The actor and director, 41, recently caught up with PEOPLE at the Writers Guild Awards on Saturday, Feb. 15 at the Edison Ballroom in New York City about being honored as a writer, his upcoming project and his family life.
Eisenberg, who gave his only son Banner, 7, a small role in his latest movie A Real Pain, admits he may have thought twice about having his son's cameo in the film based on how big it became, but ultimately, Banner "was happy" because he's "an artsy, interesting kid."
"We write songs together," he tells PEOPLE. "My kid is a brilliant musical kid, so we write songs together."
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The Now You See Me star welcomed his only son with his wife Anna Strout in 2017. The two initially met on the movie set of The Emperor’s Club in 2001, where she served as an assistant to the film producer, and Eisenberg starred as Louis Masoudi. Though the couple briefly split after about a decade together, they rekindled their romance in 2015 and wed two years later in 2017. Eisenberg and Strout welcomed their first child together that same year.
At the SXSW premiere of his film Sasquatch Sunset in March 2024, the Social Network actor spoke with PEOPLE about how becoming a father to his son Banner has changed him.
"My general feeling is I spent the first 35, sorry 33 years of my life worrying about myself," the proud dad told PEOPLE. "And a lot of these concerns were just narcissistic, self-involved, fantastical problems that I created to just ruin my life."
"And then I spent the next seven years of my life worrying about real things, worrying about another person," Eisenberg continued. "And I know it sounds like a self-serving excuse, but it's made me a lot happier."
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The actor tends to keep his family life private. However, when speaking about directing When You Finish Saving the World, which is 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 in 2023 about his own life at home.
The Zombieland 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," he 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."