Charles Martinet appearing at Oz Comic Con

Charles Martinet is an American actor, who specializes in voice acting. He is best known for voicing Mario in the Super Mario video game series. He has voiced Mario, the title character in Nintendo's flagship video game franchise, since 1995. He also voices Baby Mario, Luigi, Baby Luigi, Wario, Waluigi and Toadsworth.

Working for Nintendo since 1994, Martinet started voicing Mario at video game trade shows in which attendees would walk up to a TV screen displaying a 3-D Mario head that moved around the screen and talked.

Martinet earned the job when, one day, he was told by his friend that there was going to be an audition at a trade show in which you "talk to people as a plumber". He went to the audition at the last minute as the casting directors were already putting away their equipment. Charles Martinet walked in and asked, "Can I please read for this?". The directors let him audition and told him, "You're an Italian plumber from Brooklyn". At first Martinet planned to talk like a stereotypical Italian American with a deep, raspy voice (which is how Mario sounded in the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World cartoons). He then thought to himself that it would be too harsh for children to hear, so he made it more soft-hearted and friendly, resulting in what Mario's voice is today. He says that Petruchio from William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew was an inspiration for his portrayal of Mario.

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