Jesse Eisenberg Explains Why He Keeps ‘Going Back’ to Indiana

Jesse Eisenberg has said goodbye to Hollywood in favor of the Midwest — Indiana, specifically.

“I’ve lived in Indiana for a decade on-and-off and that’s where I feel the most comfortable,” Eisenberg, 41, shared during a CBS News interview, which aired on Sunday, February 2. “I’m not somebody who wants to surround myself in an industry that just feels kind of unstable.”

Eisenberg explained that his wife, Anna Strout, was “born and raised” in Bloomington, Indiana — the home of Indiana University — which he referred to “as one of the great American cities.”

“We’ve been going back there for the last 20 years just to visit,” he continued, before explaining a deeper connection to the community.

Anna’s late mother, Toby Strout — whom Eisenberg called an “amazing gift to the world” — was the executive director of the Middle Way House, Bloomington’s domestic violence shelter, for 35 years.

“She got sick, so we kind of moved back to help take care of her,” Eisenberg added. (Toby died in February 2017, and a street in Bloomington was named in her honor two years later.)

Eisenberg and Anna got married in 2017, welcoming their son, Banner, in April of that year.

“We had a kid and then the [Covid] pandemic hit, so we wound up being there for several years,” Eisenberg explained during Sunday’s interview. “Now, our kid goes to school in New York, so we’re really back in New York.”

The actor — who wears an IU hat throughout his new movie, A Real Pain — said he “loved” living in Indiana because it afforded him this “other life” outside of Hollywood.

“I like to keep as many feet outside the door of the entertainment industry as possible, so I don’t feel like I’m somebody who’s constantly trying to pound the pavement and knock on doors and try and get jobs,” he shared. “I just don’t want to be that person. It doesn’t fit me.”

Eisenberg explained that he was “volunteering every day” at the Middle Way House in 2020 because there was no acting work.

“It was the happiest time of my life. I was painting walls and fixing garbage disposals. It was the first time I had a real job,” he added. “I just loved it so much.”

The Middle Way House has been a cornerstone of Bloomington since it was founded in 1970. The organization’s mission is to “support all survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking” as well as “educate the community through outreach and prevention programs,” according to its website.

“My wife comes from a family of activists,” Eisenberg told The Independent in an interview last month. “I married into a brilliant left-wing family, and my wife has shaped every thought I’ve ever had as an adult. I’m a supporter of all social movements that lift up those who need a lift.”