From Fan to Icon: How Charles Martinet Landed the Role of a Lifetime as Super Mario

The world of video games wouldn’t be the same without the “Yahoo!”, “Mamma Mia!”, and various other little cries of Mario, Luigi, Wario, and the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom. Everyone recognizes them, in fact, they could be considered the most famous sounds in pop culture. But not many know that they all come from the mouth (and vocal cords) of Charles Martinet, one of the happiest men in the world who ended up becoming Mario by pure chance. Let’s-a-go!

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Ah, spaghetti, ah, ravioli

Contrary to what is commonly believed in Spain, Charles Martinet was not born in Barcelona, but in San Jose, the largest city in Northern California, where he lived until he was 12 years old before moving to the Catalan city. There, he traveled to Bilbao, Santander, Cadiz, and Madrid, and he learned the language quite decently. In fact, he speaks fluent Spanish and French. Quite the talented individual he is.

Martinet had no intention of becoming Mario. In fact, he didn’t even know who Mario was; he had only played games like ‘Pong’ and ‘Pac-Man’. However, one day he was informed about a voice casting for “an Italian plumber.” He arrived late when they were wrapping up, and he ended up filling 25 minutes of tape saying things like, “Hello, I’m Mario, let’s make a pizza, I’m going to chase you with my pizza!” It was a different time, you know?

After the audition, Charles Martinet went back home, convinced that he had performed poorly. However, during that time, the person who conducted the casting called Nintendo: they had found the voice of Mario. The decision to opt for a high-pitched and childlike voice instead of the rough and hoarse one he had originally thought of turned out to be a success. This young man raised in Barcelona made his debut as Mario in the unusual 1992 game, “Mario Pinball.”

Before that, he had only taken on minor roles in TV series like ‘Matlock’ and movies like ‘Nine Months.’ In fact, in many of them, he was trying out an artistic name, Charles Martínez, which was quickly discarded once the fame of ‘Super Mario 64’ arrived. Over a hundred video games later, Charles Martinet made it into the Guinness World Records, voicing dozens of characters… and he couldn’t be happier.

At 67 years old, some rumors suggest that Nintendo is already planning to replace him with an impersonator, and they have reportedly started doing so in “Super Mario Wonder.” However, Charles Martinet insists that he will continue voicing Mario until his last breath. Will he have treated Miyamoto to a delicious “pa amb tomàquet”? One can only hope so.

Mario DOWNLOAD

A free reimagining of a classic retro arcade game

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