Alexander Gould, Voice of Nemo in 'Finding Nemo,' Reflects on the 'Pivotal' Film 20 Years Later

Alexander Gould costarred with Albert Brooks, Willem Dafoe and Ellen DeGeneres in Pixar's 2003 classic 'Finding Nemo'

20 years ago, Pixar took audiences underwater and made the orange-and-white clownfish famous with its 2003 animated classic Finding Nemo. Now, one of the film's stars is recalling being "part of such a pivotal piece of film."

On Tuesday, Alexander Gould, the actor who voiced Nemo spoke with Good Morning America about his experience making the movie as a child, telling the outlet that he remembers the film's release as "kind of a whirlwind."

"I started working on the film when I was 6 years old, and so it was three years of recording in the studio, going back and forth to Pixar, going to Disney in Los Angeles, and finally after many many months and years of collaborating and working on the film it all came to fruition," Gould, now 29, told GMA about voicing Nemo as a child actor.

"I even remember at the time realizing that it was way bigger than we ever thought it was going to be and a much bigger deal as a film than I had thought it was going to be, than my parents had thought it was going to be," he said of the film's release. "Kind of just taking it all in stride, one step at a time."

Finding Nemo was the highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office in 2003, according to Box Office Mojo. In addition to Gould, the movie also starred the voices of Albert Brooks as Nemo's father Marlin, Willem Dafoe as Gill and Ellen DeGeneres as the forgetful blue tang fish Dory.

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"Ellen was hilarious and very fun and treated me very well," Gould told the outlet of how he remembers meeting his costars in real life upon Finding Nemo's release. "Albert was really sweet and kind. I actually ended up working with Albert a lot more on [the television series] Weeds. He played my grandfather for like a whole season, so I got to actually develop a bit of a relationship with him. He's a really, really sweet guy."

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Gould has not acted since his cameo in the 2016 sequel Finding Dory. Asked about how people in his personal life react when they learn he voiced Nemo, Gould told the outlet that he is often asked "to do the voice and then I have to explain that I was, you know, 9 years old and my voice has changed a little bit since then."

"I have a bunch of nieces and nephews, and I just got to rewatch it with all of them, and they had a blast," he added. "They're quoting the movie to me and asking me questions about filming it while they're watching, which is very fun."

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While speaking with GMA, Gould confirmed that he did not voice Nemo in Finding Dory simply because his voice changed too much.

"After the filming of Finding Nemo I still did the voice until I was about 14," Gould, who was 22 when the sequel released, said. "Around that time I was told that, unfortunately, my voice had changed too much. I wasn't able to capture the essence of Nemo anymore. That happens when you're a child actor."

Overall, the actor said he believes the movie still stands tall 20 years after its initial release.

"I think for parents it has great themes around letting go, pushing your kids into the world and letting them thrive by their own merit," he said. "It has so many beautiful themes, I think that’s probably why it was such a cultural phenomenon at the time, it just spoke so deeply to everybody who watched it.” 

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