(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Matthew Fox says his high school was right out of Dead Poets Society.

The 44-year-old American actor went to a prestigious East Coast boarding school for a year as a youngster, and didnt enjoy the experience at first despite receiving an excellent education.

He has compared the school to the strict boys boarding school featured in 1989 movie Dead Poets Society, which starred Robin Williams as an inspirational teacher, and says he initially thought he would never complete his time there.

I remember feeling that there was no way I could make it through this. It was so foreign to me. Sit-down meals, coat and tie, curfews and all boys. It was right out of Dead Poets Society, he explained.

The star is glad he persevered though, as he believes it made him the man he is today. He particularly thanks his father for choosing to send him to such a strict school.

But then I made some really good friends and had a great time. If my old man had not offered that to me, my life would probably be radically different, added Matthew.

The hunk admits he was rather wild as a youngster, and cannot believe some of the antics he and his siblings got up to. He lived on the Wind River Indian Reservation in the US state of Wyoming, and fondly recalls the escapades he and his two brothers one older and one younger experienced.

I grew up in a part of the world where the mentality is that you're going to figure all of that stuff out for yourself, and hopefully you're not going to lose a limb while you do. My mom and dad did an incredible job, and the fact that I and my brothers made it through doing some of the things we did, and nobody lost an arm or worse, is a real tribute to them, he told British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

As much as we were rebels and looked for excitement in certain ways, we always kept our heads on straight, we never went too far. (C) Cover Media