Samantha Kelly

From the Super Mario Wiki, the Mario encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
Samantha Kelly
Headshot of Samantha Kelly
Born June 14, 1967[1] (age 58)
Super Mario–related roles Voice actress for Princess Peach, Toad, Toadette, Toads, Baby Peach, Pink Gold Peach, and Peachette (2007–2024)[2]
“What I like about Peach, is that she's always innocent and sweet and she's also determined.”
Samantha Kelly

Samantha Kelly (credited as Sam Kelly in many games; born June 14, 1967 in Nairobi, Kenya[1]) is a voice actress that voiced characters in the Super Mario franchise, including Princess Peach, Toad, Toadette, Baby Peach, and Pink Gold Peach, from Mario Strikers Charged until Mario & Luigi: Brothership.

Prior to voice acting, Samantha Kelly lived in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Germany.[3] She was married to Scott D. Fralick from November 24, 1990 until they divorced on October 11, 2002.[4] She has been married to Carlos Roland since August 12, 2005, and they have two children. Her earlier voiceover work included commercials for Nordstrom and other companies,[5] and she voiced Sunny Day and Maria Luna in the Backyard Sports series from 2002 to 2008.[6]

After Jen Taylor left the role of Princess Peach and Nicole Mills filled in as the temporary voice, an agent had Kelly audition for the role and she was chosen.[7] The audition required Kelly to match recordings of Jen Taylor's voice work for Peach and Toad.[8][9] She would voice Peach starting from Mario Strikers Charged, Toad and Toadette starting from Mario Party 8, and Baby Peach starting from Mario Kart Wii.

Though she did not voice Peach and Toad in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (who were instead voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy and Keegan-Michael Key, respectively), some Toads in the movie reused voice clips of Kelly's portrayal of the Toad species.

On June 6, 2025, a day following the release of Mario Kart World, Kelly announced that she would no longer be voicing Princess Peach and Toad, as Nintendo recast the role for both characters.[2] The final Super Mario games in which she recorded new voice lines were Super Mario Bros. Wonder for Toads and Toadette and Princess Peach: Showtime! for Peach. Her roles would be recast to different voice actors; Courtney Lin took over the role of Peach and Baby Peach, Laila Berzins took over the role as Toad, Paul Castro Jr. took over the role of the Toad species, and Laura Stahl took over the role of Toadette. However, Kelly's voice clips are still used in reissues of games that featured them originally, as well as for My Mario products (Hello, Mario!, It's Me, Mario! Stop Motion Shorts, Hello, Yoshi!), Jakks Pacific's "Yours Truly, Princess Peach", LEGO Super Mario and attractions and costume meet-and-greets for Super Nintendo World.

Portrayals[edit]

All games listed include any ports and re-releases unless indicated otherwise.

Footnotes
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Kelly's voicework is used alongside one or very few archival recordings of Jen Taylor.
  2. ^ Kelly's voicework is used alongside one archival recording of Nicole Mills from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.
  3. ^ New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe only
  4. ^ a b c d Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury only
  5. ^ Mario Kart 8 Deluxe only
  6. ^ Wii U version only
  7. ^ a b Kelly voices the character in all sports except Tennis, in which they are instead voiced by Jen Taylor.
  8. ^ a b c Replaces Jen Taylor from the original game.

References[edit]

External links[edit]