Charles Martinet, the original and longtime voice actor of Mario in the Nintendo Super Mario game series, is retiring from the role he’s held since the 1990s, Nintendo announced today. The actor will continue his association with the character in the capacity of what the game company calls a “Mario Ambassador.”
“Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games for a long time, as far back as Super Mario 64,” Nintendo said in a message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, today. “Charles is now moving into the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador. With this transition, he will be stepping back from recording character voices for our games, but he’ll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all!
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“It has been an honor working with Charles to help bring Mario to life for so many years and we want to thank and celebrate him. Please keep an eye out for a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles himself, which we will post at a future date.”
Martinet shared the tweet on his page, adding, “My new adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart! #woohoo !!!!!!!”
In addition to his signature Mario character, Martinet has voiced other Nintendo figures including Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario, among others.
He first voiced Mario at tradeshows in the early 1990s, making his video game debut as the character in 1994’s Mario Teaches Typing. The big breakthrough for the character came two years later in Super Mario 64.
Martinet’s popularity became very apparent in 2023 when Chris Pratt was cast to give voice to Mario for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, with longtime fans expressing outrage that the original voice actor was not selected.
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