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Charles Martinet

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Charles Martinet
Martinet signing autographs at Game, 2007
Born
Charles Martinet
Years active1986–2005 as a Film &Television actor 1995–present as a video game voice actor

Charles Martinet (born September 17, 1955) is an American actor and voice actor, best known for providing the voice of Mario, the star of Nintendo's flagship video game franchise. He has held this role since 1995, longer than any other actor. He also voices Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Toadsworth, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Baby Wario and a select few other characters, all from the same series.

Career

Working for Nintendo since 1987, 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 moved around the screen and talked. This system was called "Mario in Real-Time" or "MIRT". Martinet could see the attendees by means of a hidden camera setup, and a facial motion capture rig recorded his mouth movements in order 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 was told by his friend that there was going to be an audition at a trade show in which you "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 little 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.[1]

Martinet's video game voice over debut was as Mario in the 1995 Windows release of Interplay's game Mario's FUNdamentals. However, most were first exposed to Mario's voice in the landmark 1996 game Super Mario 64. He has voiced Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Toadsworth, Baby Mario, and Baby Luigi in most games where in these characters speak. He also voiced the enemies Wart, MouserMouser, Tryclyde, and Clawgrip in Super Mario Advance. His voice work appears in the English and Japanese-language versions of the games.

Martinet also provided voiceover acting for the boxers and the announcer in the Super NES title Super Punch-Out!!. He also voiced the character Vigoro in Sega's Dreamcast and Nintendo GameCube RPG, Skies of Arcadia. He is also the voice of Homunculus in the Konami PlayStation 2 game Shadow of Destiny, and provided voices for Reader Rabbit and The ClueFinders games.

Martinet has also worked as a voice actor in commercials, cartoons, and promotions. At the E3 trade show in 2005, Charles (as an Animal Crossing character) could be found roaming the virtual village featured in the playable demo of Animal Crossing: Wild World. Martinet also did Mario's voice as the voice announcer for Pac-Man Vs. on the Nintendo GameCube.

Other than the Mario series, Charles 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.[2]

Public appearances

  • May 2006 - During E3 2006, Martinet appeared on a human height LCD screen with the "MIRT" system, this can be seen on GameSpot's coverage of the Wii at E3.
  • August 18, 2006 - Martinet appeared as a guest celebrity at Nintendo Power's annual event, Camp Hyrule.
  • March 9, 2007 - appeared as a guest at the Video Games Live Concert in San Francisco, California, USA (alongside Kōji Kondō and Shigeru Miyamoto), entering on stage using his trademark Mario and Luigi voices.
  • November 15, 2007 - guest appearance at the Game Store at Oxford Street UK launch of Super Mario Galaxy.
  • August 24, 2008 - appeared at the Nintendo World Store in New York City to promote the release of Mario Super Sluggers, at which the game was released in the store a day earlier than the official August 25 release date. People who purchased the game received a free baseball with the Mario Super Sluggers logo on it and a chance to meet Martinet where they could get an autograph and take pictures with him.
  • November 1, 8 and 15, 2008 - As part of a Nintendo Tour of Mexico, Martinet appeared at "Meet and Greet the voice of Mario and friends" events where people had the chance to meet Martinet, get an autograph on a free commemorative poster of Mario and friends, and take pictures with him.
  • September 9, 10 and 12 2009 - As part of an Australian tour, appeared at EB Games in Melbourne, and at Myer Sydney City and Harvey Norman Auburn in Sydney.[3]

Filmography

  • Brotherhood of Justice (1986) (TV) .... Deputy
  • Hard Traveling (1986) .... Dist. Atty. Cobb
  • The Dead Pool (1988) .... Police Station Reporter #1
  • Midnight Caller .... Mark Heller (1 episode, 1989)
  • Matlock .... Bo Edmunds (1 episode, 1989)
  • Mom (1990) .... Mr. Hernandez
  • The Last of His Tribe (1992) (TV) .... Assistant Museum Director
  • Reasonable Doubts .... Bartender (1 episode, 1992)
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (1993) .... Pilot B
  • Criminal Hearts (1995) (as Charles Martinez) .... Juan
  • Compromising Situations .... Sal (1 episode, 1995)
  • Nine Months (1995) .... Arnie
  • Nash Bridges .... Hermsdorf (1 episode, 1996)
  • Death in Granada (1997) .... Gravedigger
  • The Game (1997) .... Nicholas' Father
  • A Thousand Men and a Baby (1997) (TV) .... Seattle cab driver
  • Sheer Passion (1998) .... Lou
  • Air America .... David Dixon (1 episode, 1998)
  • ER .... Eddy (1 episode, 2002)
  • NYPD Blue .... Court Officer (1 episode, 2003)
  • The Californians (2005) .... City Councilman

Video games

Preceded by Voice of Mario
1995-present
Multiple Mario video games 		Succeeded by
Current Incumbent

References

  1. ^ Gametrailers.com - Game Head - Charles Martinet – The Voice of Mario
  2. ^ charlesmartinet.com - Charles Martinet Voice Over
  3. ^ Nintendo.com.au - News - Meet the Voice of Mario!
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