Charles Martinet

"Ah, that Charles Martinet. Nice Italian boy."

- Mario

Charles Martinet (last name pronounced mar-tin-AY), born September 17, 1955 in San Jose, California, United States is the prominent voice actor of the Mario games. He plays several major characters, including Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Wario, Metal Mario, Toadsworth, and many other characters. He also did Donkey Kong and Petey Piranha until getting replaced with Takashi Nagasako (although in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he voiced DK and Diddy Kong). Martinet also plays minor characters, such as Wart and other bosses from Super Mario Bros. 2 as well. Martinet plays the vast majority of the male characters in the Mario series. The Internet Movie Database attributes over seventy works to Martinet in total. Martinet speaks fluent French and Spanish, but, ironically, only a little Italian. His first voice over work at Nintendo was voicing the announcers, boxers and the referee in Super Punch-Out!! for the SNES.

Martinet originally wasn't invited to audition for the role of Mario. He crashed the auditions, and was asked to do an Italian accent until he ran out of things to say. He left so much of an impression at the recording that his tape was the only one sent to Nintendo. 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.

Martinet first officially voiced Mario with 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 FUNdamentals, with Martinet's voice, though most consider Mario's voice debut to be Super Mario 64 in 1996.

Portrayals

 * Mario's Game Gallery – Mario
 * Super Mario 64 – Mario
 * Mario Kart 64 – Mario / Donkey Kong / Luigi (English) / Wario (English)
 * Mario Teaches Typing 2 – Mario
 * Mario's FUNdamentals – Mario
 * Mario Party – Mario / Donkey Kong
 * Super Smash Bros. – Mario / Donkey Kong / Luigi
 * Mario Golf – Mario / Luigi / Baby Mario / Wario / Donkey Kong / Metal Mario
 * Mario Party 2 – Mario / Donkey Kong
 * Mario Tennis – Mario / Luigi / Baby Mario / Donkey Kong / Wario / Waluigi
 * Mario Party 3 – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Donkey Kong / Waluigi
 * Super Mario Advance – Mario / Luigi / Clawgrip / Tryclyde / Mouser / Fryguy / Wart
 * Dr. Mario 64 – Dr. Mario / Wario / Metal Mario
 * Mario Kart: Super Circuit – Mario / Donkey Kong
 * Wario Land 4 – Wario
 * Luigi's Mansion – Luigi / Mario
 * Super Smash Bros. Melee – Mario / Donkey Kong / Luigi / Dr. Mario
 * Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 – Mario / Luigi
 * Super Mario Sunshine – Mario / Toadsworth
 * Mario Party 4 – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Donkey Kong / Waluigi
 * WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! – Wario
 * Wario World – Wario
 * Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 – Mario / Luigi
 * Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi / Shadow Mario / Petey Piranha
 * WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$! – Mario
 * Mario Kart: Double Dash!! – Mario / Luigi / Baby Mario / Baby Luigi / Wario / Waluigi / Petey Piranha
 * Mario Party 5 – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi / Donkey Kong
 * Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga – Mario / Luigi
 * Mario Golf: Advance Tour – Mario / Luigi / Waluigi / Wario
 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong – Mario / Mini Mario / Donkey Kong (shares role with Kevin Bayliss & Grant Kirkhope)
 * Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – Mario
 * Mario Pinball Land – Mario
 * WarioWare: Twisted! – Wario
 * Mario Power Tennis – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Mario Party 6 – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi / Donkey Kong
 * Super Mario 64 DS – Mario / Luigi / Wario
 * WarioWare: Touched! – Wario
 * Yoshi Touch & Go – Baby Mario
 * Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix – Mario / Luigi
 * Mario Superstar Baseball – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi / Baby Mario / Baby Luigi / Toadsworth
 * Mario Tennis: Power Tour – Mario / Luigi / Waluigi
 * Mario Kart Arcade GP – Mario / Luigi / Wario / RoBO Mario
 * Super Princess Peach – Mario / Luigi
 * Mario Party 7 – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi / Donkey Kong
 * Mario Kart DS – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Super Mario Strikers – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time – Mario / Luigi / Baby Mario / Baby Luigi
 * New Super Mario Bros. – Mario / Luigi
 * Mario Hoops 3-on-3 – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis – Mario / Mini Mario
 * Yoshi's Island DS – Baby Mario / Baby Wario
 * WarioWare: Smooth Moves – Wario
 * Wario: Master of Disguise – Wario
 * Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi / Robo Mario
 * Super Paper Mario – Mario / Luigi
 * Mario Strikers Charged – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Mario Party 8 – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Super Mario Galaxy – Mario / Luigi
 * Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Mario Party DS – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl – Mario / Donkey Kong / Luigi / Wario / Diddy Kong / Waluigi
 * Mario Kart Wii – Mario / Luigi / Baby Mario / Baby Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Mario Super Sluggers – Mario / Luigi / Baby Mario / Baby Luigi / Wario / Waluigi / Toadsworth
 * Wario Land: Shake It! – Wario
 * WarioWare: Snapped! – Wario
 * Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story – Mario / Luigi
 * WarioWare: D.I.Y. – Wario
 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! – Mario / Mini Mario
 * Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * New Super Mario Bros. Wii – Mario / Luigi
 * Super Mario Galaxy 2 – Mario / Luigi
 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem – Mario / Mini Mario
 * Mario Sports Mix – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Super Mario 3D Land – Mario / Luigi
 * Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Fortune Street – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Mario Kart 7 – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Metal Mario
 * Mario Party 9 – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Mario Tennis Open – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi / Baby Mario / Metal Mario
 * New Super Mario Bros. 2 – Mario / Luigi
 * New Super Mario Bros. U – Mario / Luigi
 * Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon – Luigi / Mario
 * Game & Wario – Wario
 * Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move – Mario / Mini Mario
 * New Super Luigi U – Luigi
 * Mario & Luigi: Dream Team – Mario / Luigi
 * Mario Kart Arcade GP DX – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Mario Party: Island Tour – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi
 * Super Mario 3D World – Mario / Luigi
 * Yoshi's New Island – Baby Mario
 * Mario Golf: World Tour – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi / Gold Mario
 * Mario Kart 8 – Mario / Luigi / Wario / Waluigi / Baby Mario / Baby Luigi / Metal Mario
 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U – Mario / Luigi

Trivia

 * According to an interview in 2009, Charles Martinet told Shigeru Miyamoto that he wanted to voice Link in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, though Miyamoto told him that Link would remain without a voice.
 * Charles Martinet's favorite Mario game is New Super Mario Bros. Wii.