Charles Martinet

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Charles Martinet
Full name Charles Andre Martinet
Born September 17, 1955 (age 68)
Mario-related role(s) Former voice actor for Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, and various others
“Ah, that Charles Martinet. Nice Italian boy.”
Mario, Mario vs. Donkey Kong

Charles Andre Martinet (last name pronounced mar-tin-AY, born September 17, 1955 in San Jose, California) is an American actor and voice actor best known for his voices in the Mario franchise. He voices several major characters, including Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Wario, Metal Mario, the male bosses in Super Mario Advance, and many other male characters in the Mario franchise. He also voices some members of the Koopa Troop, such as Goombas, Bob-ombs, Monty Moles, Whomps, and Thwomps, all of which use pitch-shifted versions of Mario's voice samples from Super Mario 64. The Internet Movie Database attributes over 150 works to Martinet in total. Martinet speaks fluent French, English and Spanish, but, ironically, not much Italian. His first voice over work at Nintendo was voicing the announcers, boxers, and the referee in Super Punch-Out!!.

At the time of his audition, Charles Martinet had never heard of Mario or Nintendo.[1] Martinet originally was not invited to audition for the role of Mario; according to him, he crashed the auditions and was asked to do an Italian accent. His recordings left so much of an impression that they were the only ones sent to Nintendo.[2] A former Shakespearean actor, Martinet has stated that Mario's voice was based on his voice for Gremio, a character from The Taming of the Shrew.[3]

Martinet first officially voiced Mario in the Super Mario Bros. pinball machine in 1992, though he was uncredited in the game.[4] The next time he portrayed Mario, and the first time as several other characters, was for Mario in Real Time in 1994, when he had motion sensors hooked to his face, which transposed his facial movements to a computer-generated Mario head on a screen. Martinet watched people passing by the screen through a surveillance camera and talked to them as Mario. This is used rather often by Nintendo when attending trade shows. An altered form of Mario in Real Time appeared in 1995's Mario's Game Gallery (later reissued as Mario's FUNdamentals), which is the first video game to have Mario portrayed by Charles Martinet.

Though he will not be voicing Mario and Luigi in the The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Martinet has been confirmed to be providing cameo voices. In 2023, Martinet retired from his voice work, with Kevin Afghani taking his role of being the voice actor of Mario.

Mario character roles

Portrayals

Gallery

Trivia

External links

References

  1. ^ a b c Nintendo UK. (September 14, 2015). Nintendo UK Live #6 - Charles Martinet: Super Mario Maker launch day special (Wii U). YouTube. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  2. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Eudb_Tqg8
  3. ^ http://www.gooddealgames.com/interviews/int_Charles_Martinet.html
  4. ^ https://gonintendo.com/stories/312100-charles-martinet-confirms-that-voiced-mario-for-the-1992-super-ma
  5. ^ a b Thomas Game Docs (May 19, 2020). The secret origin of Bowser's voice. YouTube. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  6. ^ a b RetroSquid (October 1, 2020). Mario Here We Go Reused Voice. YouTube. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c Kairamen (May 12, 2017). Super Mario 64 - Mario's Voice. YouTube. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  8. ^ GameXplain (March 18, 2021). We Meet Mario, Luigi, & Princess Peach @ Super Nintendo World...Who TALK! YouTube. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  9. ^ Universal Parks News Today (February 4, 2021). Mario Kart: Koopa's Challenge FULL RIDE WITH AR & QUEUE TOUR - Super Nintendo World. YouTube. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  10. ^ https://tcrf.net/Mario_Kart_64#Credits_Differences
  11. ^ Twitter post by Charles Martinet