- "It's-a me, Mario!"
- —Charles Martinet, Super Mario 64
- —Charles Martinet, Super Mario 64
Charles Martinet is an American actor and voice actor, best known as the prominent voice actor of the Mario games who was born on September 17, 1955 in San Jose, California.
Martinet created the voices for the major Super Mario video game characters Mario and Luigi, their baby counterparts, Wario, Waluigi, and Wart; as well as minor characters such as Tryclyde, Clawgrip and Mouser, and portrayed them. Martinet plays the vast majority of the male characters in the Mario series. The Internet Movie Database attributes over 70 works to Martinet in total.
Martinet's first job voicing Mario began in 1990, when he would have motion sensors hooked to his face, which would interpret his facial movements to a computer-generated Mario head on a screen. Martinet would watch those passing by the screen through a surveillance camera and could talk to them, as Mario. This was used rather often by Nintendo when attending trade shows. While a relatively obscure title, Mario's FUNdamentals in 1995 is the first game in which Charles Martinet voices Mario and speaks for long periods of time, shortly predating Super Mario 64 in 1996.
In 2021, when asked if he wanted to voice Mario in the The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Martinet stated that it sounds marvelous and if invited he'd play Mario with great joy and happiness,[1] mirroring his earlier statements from 2003 of wanting to see an animated movie and that he would love to do every voice for Nintendo he possibly could.[2] However, Chris Pratt was cast instead, and Martinet voiced Mario & Luigi's father and Giuseppe in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which are the final voice roles he has done for the Mario franchise.
Despite Martinet stating "I want to voice Mario until I drop dead" in 2021,[3] on August 21, 2023, Nintendo announced that Martinet will step down from voicing characters in the Mario franchise, and will be taking on the role of Mario Ambassador.[4]
Voices[]
- Mario (1991–2024)
- Luigi (1992–2023)
- Wario (1993–2023)
- Waluigi (2000–2023)
- Wart (Super Mario Advance)
- Mouser (Super Mario Advance)
- Clawgrip (Super Mario Advance)
- Tryclyde (Super Mario Advance)
- Doopliss (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)[citation needed]
- MC Ballyhoo and Bigtop (Mario Party 8)
- Donkey Kong (Mario in Real Time)
- Giuseppe (The Super Mario Bros. Movie)
- Mario & Luigi's father (The Super Mario Bros. Movie)
History[]
It was a long time ago when Lou Albano left the job, Martinet and his friend were at a beach, his friend asked him if he could just get a good job as an oppose to a string of minor ones. He applied to Nintendo and started making his own voice for Mario. However, Nintendo was appalled at the fact that the voice was evil, and hurt the ears of several members. Nintendo gave Martinet one reprieve only and denounced him that it should be iconic and friendly, as their target market was children. Martinet spoke in the voice of Mario for 25 minutes flat thinking of things straight from the top of his head. Nintendo was impressed by his performance and chose him.
Trivia[]
- Nintendo was so impressed with Martinet that they had a television screen in which people can talk to Mario, and at the back Martinet is voicing him.
- "Ah, Charles Martinet, nice Italian boy."
- In the credits of Super Smash Bros. Melee, they mistakenly spelt Martinet's name as Martinett.
- Martinet wasn’t chosen to do the voice of Mario and Luigi in the DiC Cartoons.
- Martinet gave a mysterious note on Twitter:
- "On Monday I make the commercials for Ratchet and Clank, but know I am directing my own Mario game!"
- —Charles Martinet
External links[]
- Official website
- Charles Martinet's Facebook
- Charles Martinet at Nintendo Wiki, a wiki on all things Nintendo.
- Charles Martine at the Internet Movie Database
- Charles Martinet at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia