Charles Martinet reveals the risky way he got the role of Mario’s voice

One of the most emblematic voices and figures in the video game industry is that of Charles Martinet, the actor who brings Mario to life with an unmistakable voice. A star who is currently an ambassador for the Nintendo saga and who spoke at the FAN EXPO in Canada about his experience in casting to get the role of Mario.

“I got the job because I was the only actor who never shut up. I met an Italian plumber from Brooklyn: “Get out of my sight, I’m working here.” I thought ‘I don’t want to do something nasty and mean like that. I’ll make him younger and I’ll make up things about food, because obviously that’s my number one goal in life.’ It started and I said, ‘Hello, I’m-a Mario. Let’s make a pizza pie together. You go get some-a sausage, I’m-a go get some spaghetti, We put spaghetti and-a sausage in the pizza.’” The actor continued until he was stopped by the people in the audition, because they had ran out of tape to record any more of his performance. They asked him to leave and claimed they would be in contact, which led him to believe he should forget about the role, but as he was leaving he heard one of them say “I found a Mario. I got him.”

An eternal legacy in video game history

There are few things more recognizable than Super Mario, a Nintendo character that is recognized by people of all ages, whether or not they have experience playing video games. His unmistakable voice has accompanied us for almost three decades thanks to the work of Charles Martinet who stopped dubbing it in 2023, an exciting farewell and one that received great expressions of affection from legends such as the great Shigeru Miyamoto.

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