Ever wondered about the faces behind the beloved voices in “Finding Nemo”? From Oscar winners to comedy icons, the voice cast of this animated masterpiece is as impressive as the film itself. Let’s take a closer look at the talented individuals who brought these characters to life and what they’ve been up to since their roles in this modern classic.

Marlin, the overly cautious father, is brought to life by Albert Brooks. Given Marlin’s traumatic past, his protective nature is understandable. When Nemo vanishes during a school trip, Marlin sets off on a courageous quest through uncharted waters, a journey that resonates with parents everywhere. Along the way, he encounters Dory, a forgetful yet endearing fish voiced by Ellen DeGeneres. Together, they discover a diver’s mask with an address, setting the stage for their daring mission to reunite Marlin with his son.

Dory, the vibrant blue tang fish with short-term memory loss, quickly became the film’s standout character. Voiced by the comedic talent Ellen DeGeneres, Dory’s mantra, “just keep swimming,” resonated with audiences and even inspired a subplot in a Colleen Hoover novel years later. Her blend of forgetfulness and clever problem-solving makes her an invaluable companion to Marlin, providing a steadying influence as they navigate their quest to find Nemo.

If you’re not familiar with Brooks and his body of work, you should probably get started on a deep dive. Not only is Brooks an Academy Award winner for his supporting turn in the beloved 1973 film “Broadcast News,” he’s also the mind behind “Lost in America” and “Defending Your Life,” two of the funniest comedies of the 1980s (Brooks stars with Julie Hagerty in the former and Meryl Streep in the latter). After “Finding Nemo,” Brooks lent his voice to the sequel “Finding Dory” and the animated film “The Secret Life of Pets” and appeared in “This is 40,” the TV series “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (as himself), in his 2023 documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life,” and the 2025 movie “Ella McCay.”

Remember that forgetful fish we mentioned who ends up befriending and helping Albert Brooks’s Marlin? That would be Dory, a regal blue tang fish who suffers from short-term memory loss and needs to be reminded of thing ever few minutes. Voiced by stand-up comedian and former daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, Dory is arguably the breakout star of the movie (especially her personal mantra, “just keep swimming,” which broke containment to the point that it became a major plot point in a Colleen Hoover novel years later). Not only that, despite her memory problems, Dory is a smart and sharp problem-solver who manages to keep an often-panicked Marlin grounded as they look for Nemo. 

DeGeneres, of course, was known for her eponymous sitcom “Ellen” (where she made history by having her character come out as queer in a pivotal 1997 episode) as well as “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” her talk show that ran from 2003 to 2022. That show was canceled when, in 2020, news broke that DeGeneres’ professed commitment to kindness might be an act and Buzzfeed News published a bombshell story about the comedian’s alleged cruelty towards employees who worked on the show. As a result, DeGeneres announced, in 2021, that the following season of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” would be its swan song, and DeGeneres has largely stayed out of the public eye ever since aside from a Netflix stand-up special, “Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval,” in 2024. (Also, in 2016, she returned to voice Dory again in “Finding Dory,” of course.)

Nemo might be the titular character in “Finding Nemo,” but you’d be mistaken to think the entire movie revolves around his journey; we actually spend just as much time with Marlin and Dory as we do with Nemo himself. So where does Nemo end up after he’s captured by those divers? He gets stuffed into a dentist’s fish tank with a handful of other denizens — and we’ll circle back to them — who came from pet stores rather than the sea, and thankfully, the “Tank Gang” bands together to help Nemo get home. Marlin and Dory undertake a dangerous and entertaining journey of their own, but to be clear, Nemo’s ingenuity is also on full display as he figures out how to safely get back to his dad. Along the way, he also grows up quite a bit … and teaches his dad that he can survive on his own.

So who voices Nemo? That would be Alexander Gould, whose other big role in his career is as Shane Botwin, son of accidental drug peddler Nancy Botwin (Mary Louise Parker), on “Weeds,” and he played that role for all of the show’s eight seasons. Gould has retired from acting and attended Brandeis University, but he did lend his voice to a cameo role as Nemo again in “Finding Dory.”

While Nemo is stuck in that aforementioned dentist’s fishtank, he makes several friends who decide it’s vital for them to help Nemo find his way home … and one of those friends is Gill, a heavily scarred Moorish Idol fish who’s the defacto leader of that group referred to as the “Tank Gang.” Though Gill is the one who comes up with the idea to help Nemo escape through the filter, Nemo’s first attempt goes horribly awry and nearly kills him, leaving Gill stricken with guilt, but at the end of the day, he still successfully helps Nemo escape the dentist’s office after Nemo fakes his own death.

Gill is, inexplicably, voiced perfectly by Willem Dafoe, one of the freakiest actors currently working today (which, to be clear, is a compliment). Dafoe is known for collaborations with avant-garde directors like Lars von Trier and Robert Eggers, and he’s also an Oscar nominee for Sean Baker’s pre-“Anora” critical darling “The Florida Project. Across the years, Dafoe has shown up in everything from “The Grand Budapest Hotel” to the first “John Wick” movie to, of course, Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” movies, where he plays supervillain Norman Osborn (who terrorizes New York City as the Green Goblin), a role he reprised in 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” As far as voice acting, Dafoe has lent his distinctive and dulcet tones to 2009’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and 2023’s Hayao Miyazaki masterpiece “The Boy and the Heron.”

Another member of the so-called Tank Gang is Bloat, an easily startled pufferfish voiced by Brad Garrett. Bloat’s entire deal is — you guessed it — puffing all the way up and taking up all the room in the dentist office’s tank. Garrett’s voice is pretty perfect for this role because he has such an impressively deep tone, so where else have you seen and heard him before?

Garrett, of course, is best known for his supporting role on “Everybody Loves Raymond” as Robert Barone, brother of the titular and lovable Raymond (Ray Romano), which earned him three Emmy Awards for his work. Otherwise, Garrett has appeared in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” the canceled sitcom “Single Parents,” and a handful of other TV projects; he’s also lent his voice to “Tangled,” “Ratatouille,” “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” and, like many other “Finding Nemo” cast members, he returned for a cameo in “Finding Dory.”

Yet another member of the Tank Gang, Peach is a sea star who largely keeps watch pressed up against the glass to see what the dentist is talking about. Because of this, the Tank Gang figures out that the dentist plans to give Nemo as a gift to his niece, Darla, who’s well-known for killing her fish in genuinely gruesome ways. Peach is voiced by Allison Janney, and you’ve definitely seen and heard her work before.

Janney’s most famous role, for a while, was probably the United States press secretary C.J. Cregg on “The West Wing” — and she did win an incredible four Emmy Awards for the role. Otherwise, Janney has an Oscar, which she won for her supporting turn in “I, Tonya,” and she’s appeared in everything from “10 Things I Hate About You” to “Hairspray” to “The Help” to “Spy” throughout her lengthy career. On the small screen, you might have seen Janney on “The Diplomat” or “Mom” in recent years, but this unstoppable talent hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down throughout her illustrious and lengthy career. As far as other voice performances go, you may have heard Janney in “Over the Hedge,” “Minions,” and, unsurprisingly, a cameo in “Finding Dory.”

The joke about Bubbles, another member of the Tank Gang, is that he loves bubbles — specifically, ones that come out of a decorative “treasure chest.” Every time the bubbles emerge, he’s overcome with joy and a territorial instinct and calls the bubbles “his.” It’s particularly funny, for that reason, that Stephen Root voices Bubbles, because this definitely feels like an in-joke for adult viewers about one of Root’s most famous comedy roles.

The role in question, of course, is as the beleaguered Milton Waddams in “Office Space,” who was fired before the movie even starts (except nobody bothered to tell him) and keeps getting moved to worse and worse desk locations, all while he asks after the location of his favorite red stapler. Beyond “Office Space,” though, Root is one of the most versatile character actors alive and has appeared in vital roles in projects like the HBO series “Barry,” Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning social thriller “Get Out,” another HBO hit “Succession,” and a ton of Coen Brothers projects like “No Country For Old Men,” “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” You also might recognize Root’s voice from the “Ice Age” franchise, where he voices a variety of characters including Frank and Aardvark Dad, and from his cameo appearance in “Finding Dory.”

A royal gamma who’s also part of the Tank Gang, Gurgle is a deeply obsessive and eccentric fish who also helps Nemo get out of the tank safely … despite the fact that, as a bit of a hypochrondiac, he’s completely freaked out that his clean environment is threatened by a wild fish like Nemo. So who voices Gurgle? That would be veteran actor Austin Pendleton.

Across several decades, Pendleton has appeared in tons of film and TV projects — he made his big-screen debut back in 1968 — but he’s also done some pretty vital stage work. In fact, he often pulled double-duty on-stage, and in 1981, he famously directed the legendary Elizabeth Taylor in a production of Lillian Hellman’s beloved play “The Little Foxes.” Beyond that, though, Pendleton has popped up in TV shows like “St. Elsewhere,” “The Equalizer,” “Frasier,” “The West Wing,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” and “The Good Fight.” On the big screen, you’ve likely seen Pendleton in “My Cousin Vinny” (as a public defender with a bit of a speech impediment), “Uptown Girls,” and “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” and you heard him, once again, in a cameo in “Finding Dory.”

The last member of the Tank Gang we’re going to talk about here is Deb — or, depending on the moment, “Flo.” What do we mean by that? Well, Deb, voiced by Vicki Lewis, is a striped damselfish who often finds herself completely distracted by her own reflection, thinking its her twin named Flo. (It’s obviously just her.) Daffy as she might be, Flo is sweet and helpful when it comes to Nemo’s mission, so what about Lewis?

Fans of the classic sitcom “NewsRadio” might recognize the red-headed Lewis as Beth, but if you’re not familiar with her performance on that series, you’ve probably seen or heard her elsewhere. Over the years, Lewis has lent her voice to movies like “An Extremely Goofy Movie,” “Alpha and Omega,” and “Finding Dory” — ad on the big screen, you’ve seen and heard her in “How I Met Your Mother,” “Bones,” “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” “Modern Family,” and even the kid’s show “Doc McStuffins.”

We’ve talked quite a bit about the Tank Gang — so now let’s talk about the friends and allies that Marlin and Dory meet on their journey to find Nemo. One of their most helpful new friends — thanks to his power of flight — is Nigel, a pelican who actually carres the pair up to the dentist’s window so they can see Nemo for themselves; unfortunately, Nemo is faking his death, and Marlin believes it. So who voices Nigel?

That would be Geoffrey Rush, an Australian actor with an enormous body of work (in fact, right around the same time that “Finding Nemo” came out, Rush appeared as the primary antagonist Barbossa in “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which also hit theaters in 2003). Rush is also known for his supporting roles in “The King’s Speech” and “Shakespeare in Love” and his lead role in “Quills,” all of which earned him Oscar nominations; there’s also the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise and Rush’s work on the small screen in projects like “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.” Notably, Rush got to use his real accent for this role despite frequently playing a Brit in other performances.

Despite being a supporting character in “Finding Nemo,” Bruce the great white shark, voiced by Australian actor Barry Humphries, provides some of the film’s most memorable moments. There’s the homage to “The Shining” where, as Bruce chases Dory and Marlin, he shoves his giant head through pieces of a broken ship and yells “Here’s Brucey!” (to reference Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance yelling “Here’s Johnny!” in the same fashion), and when we learn about Bruce’s ethos, we get one of the movie’s funniest and most enduring quotes: “Fish are friends, not food.” Yes, that’s right; after a tense chase sequence, we learn that Bruce and his fellow sharks are trying to stop hurting fish and eat other food instead, though it’s tough for them to work past their animal instincts.

As for Humphries, he’s been performing in Australia for decades as two extremely famous characters: offbeat housewife Dame Edna Everage and the drunken disgrace Sir Les Patterson. He’s also performed as Sandy Stone, an older Australian man with a slightly tragic backstory. Aside from character work, Humphries has appeared in projects like “Spice World,” “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (as a motion-capture goblin), and “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.”

There’s honestly not a whole lot to say about Anchor, one of Bruce’s friends and a hammerhead shark who’s also doing his level best to treat fish as friends and not food. He’s included on this list, though, because he’s voiced by Eric Bana, which is a pretty big deal. 

If you’re not familiar with Bana, he’s another Australian-born actor who’s appeared in a ton of acclaimed projects throughout the years. After a handful of smaller roles and projects, Bana’s breakout role came in 2001’s “Black Hawk Down,” and he hasn’t really slowed down since then; over the years, Bana has appeared in a wide variety of projects including “Hulk” (not the one with Edward Norton), “Troy,” “Munich,” “The Other Boleyn Girl” (as King Henry VIII), “Funny People,” and the 2009 big-screen reboot of “Star Trek.” You might have also seen Bana in the 2018 series “Dirty John” or the 2025 Netflix thriller “Untamed.”

“Finding Nemo” is streaming on Disney+ now.