For some people, certain roles are always going to be attributed to certain actors. Regardless of whether these people portray them in live-action or via voice-over, their voices and personality are imbued in those characters in a way that people don’t want to hear other voices on those characters. And for the gaming community, the voice of Mario is forever going to be synonymous with Charles Martinet.
He has been the voice of Mario for countless games, and at Fan Expo Canada, he was asked how long he’d like to voice the beloved plumber:
“I want to voice Mario until I drop dead. If someday I think I am no longer capable of doing it, I will tell Nintendo to look into finding someone else.”
Funnily enough, Charles Martinet is NOT going to be the voice of Mario in the upcoming Super Mario movie by Illumination, that will actually be Chris Pratt. But Martinet is stated to cameo in the movie in various roles.
Oh, and his favorite Mario game? Super Mario Sunshine.