Charles Andre Martinet (born September 17, 1955) is an American actor. Martinet is known for creating the voice of Mario in the Super Mario franchise, portraying him from 1991 to 2023. He also voiced other characters in the series such as Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, and the baby equivalents of Mario and Luigi, prior to stepping down as voice actor to become an official brand ambassador for the series.

Martinet is also known for his portrayal of Paarthurnax in 2011's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, as well as Magenta in 2022's Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.

Charles Andre Martinet was born on September 17, 1955, in San Jose or Cupertino, California to father Jacques René Pierre Martinet. The younger of two children, he has an older brother, John, though he was taller than him despite being the younger sibling, and while his brother was extroverted, Charles was shy and more anxiety-driven than him in his youth. His mother's family had been in the country since the Mayflower voyages, while his father grew up in Paris, France, and Martinet's paternal grandfather served in World War I under General Pershing in order to get eligibility for American citizenship; they then came to the US when Martinet was a child. This makes him French-American.

His family moved to Barcelona, Spain when he was 12 years old, where he attended an American middle school. In 1969, after 3 years in Spain, they moved to Paris, France. As a result, he became fluent in Spanish and French; he can also speak a little bit of Italian. He attended the American School of Paris and graduated in 1974.

As a young adult, Martinet became interested in international law. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he majored in history or politics. In his senior year, he decided to discontinue his studies after a tutor told him to "regurgitate information he'd written in his book, chapter-by-chapter". When he was about 20 years old, a friend persuaded him to take acting classes to combat his fear of public speaking. His first role was a monologue from the Spoon River Anthology.

Martinet auditioned for and won an apprenticeship at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. After training with the Berkeley Rep for several years, Martinet went to London to attend the Drama Studio London, where among other skills, he discovered his talent for accents and dialects. Upon returning to California he joined the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. He went on to become a founding member of the San Jose Repertory Theatre for four years.

Martinet earned the job as Mario's voice at Nintendo when one day in 1991, he was on the beach and received a call from a friend who told him that there was going to be an audition at a trade show in which auditioneers "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. 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. Martinet has also stated that he kept on talking with his Mario voice until the audition tape ran out. He says that Gremio from William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew was an inspiration for his portrayal of Mario.

Working for Nintendo since 1991, 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 was designed to move around the screen and hold full conversations with them. This system was called Mario in Real-Time or MIRT and was developed by Pasadena based SimGraphics. Martinet could see the attendees by means of a hidden camera setup, and a facial motion capture rig recorded his mouth movements to synchronize Martinet's mouth movement with the on-screen Mario mouth movement. This digital puppetry, with Martinet's comic performance, was a novelty at the time.

Martinet's first video game appearance as Mario was in the 1994 CD version of Mario Teaches Typing and formally debuted in the 1995 release of Mario's Game Gallery, where he spoke full dialogue as Mario for extended periods of time to the player.

Most were first exposed to Mario's voice in the landmark 1996 game Super Mario 64. During his time working through MIRT, Martinet became acquainted with Mario series creator Shigeru Miyamoto. Seeking a professional voice actor for Super Mario 64, Miyamoto had Nintendo contact Martinet to inquire about voicing Mario in the game. An opportunity he was not expecting, Martinet agreed immediately, making the trip from Sausalito to Bad Animals Studio in Seattle to record for the game. Mostly unscripted, Martinet was given examples of what the teams in Japan were looking for by the producers, in addition to improvisation which lead to the creation of many of Mario's catchphrases. During the recording session, it was wondered what Mario would do when the player leaves him alone. In the end, Martinet came up with the idea that Mario would dream of pasta during his sleep. In the final game, Mario says "night nighty. Ahhh spaghetti, ahhh ravioli, ahhh mamma mia" when in his second sleeping position.

Following Super Mario 64, he would go on to additionally voice Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Metal Mario, Shadow Mario, Mini-Mario Toys, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi and Baby Wario in most games wherein these characters speak. He also voiced the enemies Wart, Mouser, Tryclyde, and Clawgrip in Super Mario Advance. His voice work appears in the English and Japanese language versions of the games. With his work as Mario in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized Martinet for having performed the same character in one hundred different titles, the most of any video game voice actor.

In February 2021, Martinet said the possibility of reprising his role in the animated The Super Mario Bros. Movie would be a "marvelous thing" and that if he were asked to voice Mario he would "go in and play with great joy and happiness". Despite this, Chris Pratt was cast as Mario instead, and Martinet appeared briefly for cameo voices of Mario's father and a Brooklyn citizen named Giuseppe.

Martinet provided voiceover acting for the boxers and the announcer in the Super NES title Super Punch-Out!!. He voiced the character Vigoro in Sega's Dreamcast and GameCube role-playing video game, Skies of Arcadia. He did the voice of Homunculus in the Konami PlayStation 2, Xbox and Windows game Shadow of Destiny, and provided voices for Reader Rabbit and The ClueFinders games. In 2009, Martinet told That Gaming Site that he wanted to voice Link in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but Shigeru Miyamoto told him that Link would remain without a voice. However, Link's grunts have been voiced by various Japanese voice actors.

In addition to video game voiceovers, Martinet has worked as a voice actor in commercials, cartoons, and promotions. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade show in 2005, Martinet remotely interacted with players from New York in a playable demo of Animal Crossing: Wild World. Martinet did Mario's voice as the announcer for Pac-Man Vs. on the Nintendo GameCube.

Other than the Mario series, Martinet has also done work for the video game Cel Damage as the voice of Fowl Mouth, as well as the primary voice work in several educational game series such as LeapFrog. He also voiced the dragon Paarthurnax in the 2011 video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Orvus in 2009's Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, and narrated the cutscenes and menus for the 2013 video game Runner2 and Runner3, appearing as a hidden playable character in the latter. Martinet also narrated for the 2020 Netflix docuseries High Score. Martinet provided the voice of Magenta in the English dub of the 2022 anime film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.

Martinet had stated in 2021 that he wanted to voice Mario for the rest of his life, and also said that he would ask Nintendo to find a successor in the case he would think that he won't be able to do it anymore. On August 21, 2023, Nintendo of America announced on Twitter that Martinet would be retiring from providing voice acting for the Super Mario games but would continue to work with Nintendo as "Mario Ambassador". Kevin Afghani subsequently took over the role of Mario and Luigi starting with Super Mario Bros. Wonder, as well as Wario beginning with WarioWare: Move It! and Waluigi beginning with Super Mario Party Jamboree.

As the former voice of Mario, Martinet has become a well-known personality and has made public appearances at several video game related events where he meets fans for chat, photographs, and autographs. He has made regular appearances at game events such as Electronic Entertainment Expo, Gamescom, and the Eurogamer Expo, and at launch events of games like Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel.

In 2013, Martinet was evicted from his home in Sausalito, California following a legal dispute with the family of the recently deceased landlord. Dissatisfied with other homes in his price range, Martinet remained homeless for the next five years, focusing his time on game events.

Martinet, having spent a large portion of his youth in Europe, speaks fluent French and Spanish, as well as some Italian. He resides in the Netherlands with his partner.

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Hard Traveling	Dist. Atty. Cobb
1988	The Dead Pool
1995	Nine Months	Arnie	Credited as Charles A. Martinet
1997	Beauty and the Beast	Red-Suited Ghost (voice)	Direct-to-video
1997	Anastasia	Yellow Bird, Pierre, General, Rasputin's Dog (voice)	Direct-to-video (uncredited) Also screenplay
1997	The Game	Nicholas' Father
2004	Little Angels: The Brightest Christmas	(voice)	Direct-to-video
2005	The Californians	City Councilman
2019	Rekindle	Canceled
2022	Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero	Magenta (voice)	English dub
2023	The Super Mario Bros. Movie	Mario and Luigi's father & Giuseppe	Cameo roles and multilanguage voice-over

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Brotherhood of Justice	Deputy	TV Movie
1989	Midnight Caller	Mark Heller	Episode: "Blood Red"
1992	The Last of His Tribe	Assistant Museum Director	TV Movie
1992	Reasonable Doubts	Bartender	Episode: "Lifelines: Part 1"
1992	Bay City Story	Art Ronstadt	TV movie
1994	JoJo's Bizarre Adventure	Senator Wilson Philips, Speedwagon Foundation Pilot B (voice)	2 episodes
1996–1998	Nash Bridges	Jean-Yves, Tony, Hermsdorf	3 Episodes
1998	Air America	David Dixon	Episode: "Fever"
2020	High Score	Narrator	6 episodes

Year	Title	Role (voice acting)	Notes	Source
1993	Police Quest: Open Season	Prostitute, Billy Bob, Janitor
1994	Super Punch-Out!!	Announcer, Referee, Boxers
	Mario Teaches Typing	Mario	CD-ROM version only
1995	Mario's Game Gallery
	Solar Eclipse	Spinner
	Space Quest 6	Pa Conshohocken, Ray Trace, P'Tooie
1996	Super Mario 64	Mario
	Mario Kart 64	Mario, Luigi, Wario, narrator	All versions (for Mario) North American/European versions (for Luigi and Wario) Credited as Charles Martinee
1997	Grossology: The Science of Really Gross Things	Additional Voices
	Mario Teaches Typing 2	Mario	Uncredited
	Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle Stadium
1998	Mario Party	Mario	Credited as Charles Martinee
	Dr. Seuss Kindergarten	Cat in the Hat
	Dr. Seuss Preschool	Cat in the Hat, Yertle the Turtle
	Dr. Seuss Toddler	Cat in the Hat
	Madeline Classroom Companion: 1st & 2nd Grade Reading	Lord Cucuface
	Reader Rabbit's 2nd Grade	Monstrous Mirror, Sir Drayson Dragon
	The ClueFinders Math Adventures	Guide
1999	Super Smash Bros.	Mario, Luigi	Reused voices Credited as Charles Martinee
	Mario Golf	Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Wario Metal Mario	Credited as Charles Martinee
	Carmen Sandiego's Great Chase Through Time	William Shakespeare, Ludwig van Beethoven
	Slave Zero	Old One, Sangonar
	Mario Party 2	Mario
	Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance	Admiral Holtz, Rebel Pilot 8
	Rising Zan: The Samurai Gunman	Master Suzuki
	Spawn	Clown, The Curse
	Reader Rabbit's Math Ages 6-9	Captain Ratbeard
2000	Mario Tennis	Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Wario, Waluigi
	Skies of Arcadia	Vigoro	English dub
	Mario Party 3	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
2001	Super Mario Advance	Mario, Luigi, Wart, Mouser, Tryclyde, Clawgrip, Fryguy, Announcer	Uncredited
	Dr. Mario 64	Dr. Mario/Metal Mario, Wario/Vampire Wario
	Forever Kingdom	Darsul	English dub
	Wario Land 4	Wario
	Luigi's Mansion	Luigi, Mario
	Cel Damage	Fowl Mouth, Fleming, Brian the Brain, Fleming's Friend
	Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds	2-1B, AT-AT Driver, OOM-9		(click the checkmark and look near the center of the image to confirm all of them)
	Super Smash Bros. Melee	Mario, Luigi, Dr. Mario	Reused voices
	Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World	Mario, Luigi, Announcer	Uncredited
	The ClueFinders: Mystery Mansion Arcade	Alistair Loveless, Pericles Lear
	Shadow of Memories	Homunculus
	Mario Kart: Super Circuit	Mario
	Mad Dash Racing	Spanx, Ash
2002	Jet Set Radio Future	Gouji Rokkaku
	Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast	Bespin Cop 2, Civilian Male, Imperial Officer 2, Rebel Shock Troop 3
	Super Mario Sunshine	Mario, Pianta (Male) Isle Delfino Commercial
	Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3	Baby Mario	Uncredited
	Mario Party 4	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	Shinobi	Additional voices	English dub
	The House of the Dead III	Dr. Curien	Uncredited, identified by ear by Behind The Voice Actors committee
2003	WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$	Wario	Uncredited
	Wario World
	Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3	Mario, Luigi	Uncredited
	Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Shadow Mario
	Gladius	Additional Voices
	WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games!	Wario
	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	Easterlings
	Mario Kart: Double Dash!!	Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	Pac-Man Vs.	Mario
	Mario Party 5	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi	Uncredited
	Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga	Mario, Luigi
2004	Mario Golf: Advance Tour	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	Mario vs. Donkey Kong	Mario, Mini Mario
	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door	Mario, Doopliss (when impersonating Mario)
	Mario Pinball Land	Mario
	WarioWare: Twisted!	Wario
	Mario Power Tennis	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age	Eaoden Gimli
	Mario Party 6	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi	Uncredited
	Super Mario 64 DS	Mario, Luigi, Wario
	WarioWare: Touched!	Wario
2005	Virtua Quest	Announcer, Snake Eyes, Lau Chan, Shun Di	English dub
	Yoshi Touch & Go	Baby Mario
	Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix	Mario, Luigi, Waluigi, Wario	Uncredited
	Mario Superstar Baseball	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi
	Mario Tennis: Power Tour	Mario, Luigi, Waluigi, Wario (cameo)
	SSX on Tour	Mario, Luigi
	Super Princess Peach
	Mario Party 7	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi	Uncredited
	Mario Kart DS
	Mario Kart Arcade GP	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Robo Mario
	Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time	Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi
	Super Mario Strikers	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
2006	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	Uncredited
	Yoshi's Island DS	Baby Mario, Baby Wario Baby Luigi
	WarioWare: Smooth Moves	Wario
2007	Mario Kart Arcade GP 2	Mario, Luigi, Waluigi, Wario, Robo Mario	Uncredited
	Wario: Master of Disguise	Wario
	Super Paper Mario	Mario, Luigi
	Mario Strikers Charged	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	Mario Party 8	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi Big Top
	World in Conflict
	Super Mario Galaxy	Mario, Luigi
	Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	Mario Party DS
	Kane & Lynch: Dead Men	The Elder Brother / Vaultbreaker
2008	Super Smash Bros. Brawl	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	Mario Kart Wii	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi
	Mario Super Sluggers
	Hellboy: The Science of Evil	Additional Voices
	Wario Land: Shake It!	Wario
	Aion: The Tower of Eternity
	WarioWare: Snapped!	Wario
2009	Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story	Mario, Luigi
	Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!	Mario, Mini Mario	Uncredited
	Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time	Orvus
	Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	New Super Mario Bros. Wii	Mario, Luigi
2010	Resonance of Fate	Cardinal Lagerfeld	English dub
	Super Mario Galaxy 2	Mario, Luigi
	Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!	Mario, Mini Mario	Uncredited
	Mario Sports Mix	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	WarioWare D.I.Y.	Wario
2011	Super Mario 3D Land	Mario, Luigi	Uncredited
	The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim	Paarthurnax
	Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	Mario Kart 7	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Metal Mario	Uncredited
	Fortune Street	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
2012	Mario Party 9	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario
	Mario Tennis Open	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario
	New Super Mario Bros. 2	Mario, Luigi	Uncredited
	New Super Mario Bros. U
2013	Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon	Luigi Mario
	Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move	Mario, Mini Mario	Uncredited
	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
	Super Mario 3D World	Mario, Luigi	Uncredited
	Mario Party: Island Tour	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	Yoshi's New Island	Baby Mario	Uncredited
	BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien	Narrator
2014	Mario Golf: World Tour	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Gold Mario
	Mario Kart 8	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Metal Mario	Uncredited
	Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U	Mario, Luigi, Dr. Mario, Wario, Waluigi	Mario, Luigi, and Wario are reused voices
2015	Mario Party 10	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	Luigi's Mansion Arcade	Luigi
	Super Mario Maker	Mario, Luigi, Waluigi
	Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash	Mario, Luigi, Waluigi, Wario
	Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam	Mario, Luigi
2016	Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	Paper Mario: Color Splash	Mario, Luigi
	Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge	Mini Mario, Mini Luigi
	Super Mario Run	Mario, Luigi
	Mario Party: Star Rush	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS	Mario
2017	Mario Sports Superstars	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi
	Mario Party: The Top 100	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	Mario Kart 8 Deluxe	Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Metal Mario, Gold Mario
	Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle	Mario, Luigi
	Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions	Mario, Luigi
	Super Mario Odyssey	Mario, Luigi
2018	Runner3	Narrator, playable character
	Mario Tennis Aces	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	WarioWare Gold	Wario
	Super Mario Party	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	Luigi's Mansion (Nintendo 3DS)	Luigi, Mario
	Super Smash Bros. Ultimate	Mario, Luigi, Dr. Mario, Wario, Waluigi
	Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey	Mario, Luigi
2019	Super Mario Maker 2	Mario, Luigi
	Mario Kart Tour	Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Wario, Waluigi	Includes variants of said characters
	Luigi's Mansion 3	Luigi, Mario, Gooigi
	Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
2020	Paper Mario: The Origami King	Mario, Luigi
	Super Mario 3D All-Stars	Mario, Luigi, Isle Delfino Commercial
	Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit	Mario, Luigi
2021	Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
	Mario Golf: Super Rush	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi
	Mario Party Superstars
	WarioWare: Get It Together!	Wario
2022	Mario Strikers: Battle League	Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi	Last two Mario game to feature the voice acting of Charles Martinet prior to stepping down
	Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope	Mario, Luigi
2023	Dragon Ball Legends	Magenta	DLC
2024	Mario vs Donkey Kong (Nintendo Switch)	Mario, Mini Mario	First three Mario games to feature the archival voice acting of Charles Martinet prior to stepping down.
	Luigi's Mansion 2 HD	Luigi, Mario
	Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)	Mario, Luigi, Doopliss (when impersonating Mario)

Title	Role	Source
Got Milk?	Mario
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games	Mario
Mario Golf	Mario
Mario Party	Mario
McDonald's	Mario
Wario World	Wario

• CharlesMartinet.com
• Charles Martinet at IMDb
• Short clip of Martinet's Mario voice acting
• Podcast Interview for Scene World Magazine