OlderAlexander Gould Reflects on Voicing Nemo in 'Finding Nemo' for Film's 20 Year Anniversary
Alexander Gould was just a child when he voiced the fan-favorite clown fish Nemo in the Disney/Pixar film Finding Nemo!
The now 29-year-old started the recording process for the role when he was six years old, and he was nine when the movie debuted in theaters on May 30, 2003.
See what he said inside…
“It was a very exciting time. It was 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 in San Francisco and going to Disney in Los Angeles,” he told Good Morning America. “And finally, after many, many months and years of collaborating and working on the film, it kind of all came to fruition and then there was a lot of big media attention, and there was premiere and it was very fun. I kind of was in the Disney crowd at the time, which was exciting. It was a really fun time.”
“People ask me 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. [Laughs] I usually get a lot of questions about what it was like and have people quoting the movie to me. It’s a really, really amazing thing to be a part of such like a pivotal piece of film, of animation,” Alexander added. “I have a bunch of nieces and nephews, and I just got to rewatch it with all of them, and they had a blast. They’re quoting the movie to me and asking me questions about filming it while they’re watching, which is very fun.”
He also revealed why he didn’t reprise his role of Nemo in 2016′s Finding Dory, and it definitely had to do with his voice!
“Yeah, that was 100% the reason. When Finding Dory came out I was I think 20 or 21. After the filming of Finding Nemo I still did the voice … until I was about 14. 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,” Alexander shared. “So they brought in someone new [Hayden Rolence] who was able to capture the essence that I had in the original film, and he did a really fantastic job doing that. I came back and did a small little cameo [in Finding Dory].”
Alexander‘s cameo in Finding Dory was the character “Passenger Carl.”
If you didn’t know, Alexander is also very well known for starring in the TV show Weeds, which reportedly has a reboot in the works.
