For the better part of three decades, Charles Martinet was Nintendo’s official voice for Mario. While Martinet has since stepped back from playing the iconic character, he has shared how his approach to the role helped him land the part of a lifetime.
While speaking with GamingBible, Martinet recalled that he crashed Nintendo’s audition for Mario without knowing anything about the character or the Japanese video game publisher.
“I was simply told to start talking, and when you run out of things to say, that’s your audition,” said Martinet. “I didn’t want to do an Italian plumber sounding gruff, mean and nasty or scary to children, like a Mafia member. I didn’t know whether the audience would have children in it, but I have a principle of comedy of always being kind. I thought to myself that I’ll do something much more silly and fun. I didn’t know anything about video games, so I just made things up about food and started talking.”
