Charles Martinet

Honestly, Charles Martinet might be the most quietly legendary voice in the history of video games. The man from San Jose stepped into a recording booth in the early '90s and conjured an Italian plumber from Brooklyn out of thin air — and that cheerful, slightly unhinged "It's-a me, Mario!" became one of the most recognized sounds on the planet. What gets me is the sheer consistency: for over three decades he voiced Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, and their baby selves, keeping that infectious energy alive across countless titles. When he retired from the role in 2023 and transitioned to brand ambassador, it genuinely felt like the end of an era. No shade to whoever comes next, but Martinet didn't just read lines — he was the soul of those characters, and that's not something you can simply replace.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Charles Martinet

Name (Japanese)

チャールズ・マーティネー

Reading

ちゃーるず・まーてぃねー

Born

September 17, 1955 (age 70)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Virgo / Goat

Origin

San Jose, California, United States

Height

192 cm

Occupation

voice actor / television actor / writer

• Official sitehttp://www.charlesmartinet.com/
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/charlesmartinetitsame/
• Xhttps://x.com/CharlesMartinet
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles%20Martinet
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%82%BA%E3%83%BB%E3%83%9E%E3%83%BC%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%83%8D%E3%83%BC
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q703384

Tags

• California
• voice actor
• television actor
• writer

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.