Quebec Comiccon: 31 years in Mario’s shoes

The voice of Mario’s character for 31 years, Charles Martinet continues to benefit from this gift that continues to give him so much happiness and that completely changed his life.

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“What I’m living is a dream. It’s unbelievable. Mario changed my life,” he said in an interview.

The 67-year-old American actor, who lived in France, is one of the stars of the eighth edition of the Quebec ComicCon, which takes place on Saturdays and Sundays at the Convention Center.

In addition to the voice of the famous plumber, Charles Martinet is also behind the voices of Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi in the English and Japanese versions of the games of this famous franchise.

An adventure that began on the beach, on a sunny day in California, in the early ’90s, at that time Charles Martinet had small roles in theater, film, television and also in voice acting.

“I was reading. A friend called me on the pager. He suggested I go for a test in Las Vegas. He said in French during an interview at an uptown hotel.

smiling

Two days later, Charles Martinet appeared with his friend in Vegas. At the last moment, the producer looked at his watch and agreed to give it a test.

“I was told it was for a character called Mario for a company called Nintendo. I had never heard of that before.”

Charles Martinet says he was inspired by Petruchio tamed shrew Shakespeare that he played in the theater.

“I started improvising making pizza and lasagna while enjoying the names of foods and the words for sausage, pizza and pasta. At one point, I was asked to stop talking. We were at the end of the tape.”

The tape ended up at Nintendo’s offices in Seattle. It was the beginning of an adventure that took him around the planet. I spend 250 days a year in hotels. I travel because of Mario’s personality and also because of his passion.”

Charles Martinet still very much enjoys the voice of Mario and other characters from this universe.

“I think and I’m dreaming of Mario. Sometimes I talk to myself with the voices of these characters. They give me joy. People ask me to do that voice and I always accept it. I love seeing smiles appear on people’s faces. A Florida resident said.”

Pleasant smiles that come from both young and old who have grown up with the friendly plumber.

“It is always good to know that we have an impact on people’s lives. He said.

In a world, he says, where everything is terrible and everything is falling apart and where democracy is crumbling more and more, Charles Martinet loves to bring happiness.

“Mario represents, to me, what it takes to be a man. He is loyal, happy and optimistic,” he dismisses, explaining that he was not like Luigi at all, before launching the “Yahoo!” voice of Mario.