How ‘Finding Nemo’ Star Alexander Gould Was Impacted by Life as a Child Actor (Exclusive)

Alexander Gould got the chance of a lifetime at just 6 years old.

The young actor came from a family of entertainers and was just 2 years old when he started acting.

“I was working in very adult spaces at a very young age and did a lot of different small roles until I was around six, which is when I booked Finding Nemo. And I was chosen, I was one out of, I think they told me two or 3,000 kids that they auditioned,” he tells PEOPLE.

Gould and his family were thrilled that the casting team decided his voice “fit the character the most.”

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While Gould knew he’d secured a role, he didn’t know it was the main character until later on.

“They loved me and I grew up as a kid in the ’90s, so I think Disney was my bread and butter like everyone else’s. So I definitely understood what was going on, but the cool part of the process was it took about a year for me to actually book the role from the time I auditioned for it,” he explained.

“That year was just kind of waiting. And then I came in and I booked the role and they brought me in to do some initial recording. I still didn’t really know what role it was going to be in the film. I knew it was a big Pixar film, so that was already exciting. And we asked them, ‘What role is he playing?’ And they were like, ‘Oh, he’s Nemo, the main character.’ ”

Recording was a lengthy process, which was another surprise for the young actor.

“I didn’t know I was going to be recording for the next three years and voicing the title character of this film and spend several years after that promoting the film and having that whole kind of experience at that young age. So it was really neat,” he shares.

The 2003 film was a major success. 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. Finding Nemo went on to become the highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office in 2003 and led to a 2016 sequel, Finding Dory.

Getting to be Nemo has been special for Gould, who continued acting after the film.

“I think I did a good job. And then beyond that, it was just super exciting because I got to see Pixar and work with all the people there and that’s a really cool place where they make all the films. I got to be part of a film that’s honestly a huge classic. I got to tour around the country and talk to fans and I’m still doing that today. And so it’s just such a special thing to be part of that project.”

As a tween, he booked a role as Shane Botwin on Weeds, the dark comedy-drama series created by Jenji Kohan.

“I always joke about that because it’s funny, I went from being the most family-friendly movie of all time probably to the least family-friendly show, at least at that time. It was one of the first that really broke a lot of boundaries,” Gould laughs.

“From an externally-facing standpoint, it was a challenge because there was a marketing pivot you have to do. But no, they were both good characters and I was older, I got to grow up with the character of Shane on Weeds… The big difference was shifting from animation to live action, but I had already been doing live action for a while.”

After Weeds concluded, Gould took a break from acting. Now, he’s not only returning to the craft, but to social media to share some of his experiences growing up in the entertainment industry.

“This is the first time I’m opening up and talking about my experience growing up in Hollywood and on the shows that I was on and interacting with fans more. So I’ve been really enjoying doing that,” he says.

“I’m going to be starting a podcast, probably just after the new year. We’ll be dripping it out and would love to see that grow and maybe get to talk to other people with similar experiences to talk about their experiences… I know child acting has become more of a topic, but I think there’s a lot of conversations to be had there and it would really be awesome to be able to facilitate those.”