Nintendo announces Charles Martinet's departure from Mario voice acting after three decades

A still of Mario (Image via Nintendo)
A still of Mario (Image via Nintendo)

There is barely any character more popular than the Italian plumber Mario, Nintendo's ace mascot for decades. Behind Mario's character has been the recognizable voice of Charles Martinet, the American actor who has portrayed both the brother Mario and Luigi in the Super Mario video game series.

Martinet has had this role since 1991, effectively completing over three decades as the iconic voice behind the world-renowned character. In a recent announcement, Nintendo confirmed that the iconic actor is stepping down from the role of Mario's voice acting.

Martinet will now move onto a new role for the company, serving as Mario Ambassador, which will include the actor traveling around the globe to "share the joy" of the character. It is unclear what this role comes with. Many tributes poured in across social media platforms after the actor announced his retirement from the popular role.


Nintendo confirms Charles Martinet is "moving into the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador"

Though the company did hint at a video message later from creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Martient himself, they announced on their social media handle that Martinet will no longer be the voice of Mario from now on.

In a message addressed to the fan community, Nintendo wrote:

"Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games for a long time, as far back as Super Mario 64,...Charles is now moving into the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador. With this transition, he will be stepping back from rrecording character voices for our games, but he'll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all!"
"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 retweeted this message by saying,

"My new Adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart!"

It seems like Martinet is on board with this new transition. While there is still no confirmation from the company, fans have been speculating that Chris Pratt could take over the voice duties for the famous character after he played the titular role in The Super Mario Bros. Movie by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.

Charles Martinet has been associated with the character's voice since 1991, when he started doing the exaggerated Italian accents at Nintendo at trade shows. He recorded the voice for the first time in 1996's Super Mario 64. This kickstarted his journey as the iconic character, and Martinet went on to do the voice for more than a dozen other videogames for Nintendo.

He also did other character voices from the same universe, including Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Luigi, and Baby Mario. Martinet also did a cameo for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, where he voice acted in two different roles, Giuseppe and Mario's dad, both of which were well-received by fans.

Charles Martinet's legacy will live on for the time to come.

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Edited by Shreya Das
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