Charles Martinet

Charles Martinet
Martinet at Game World 2010
Born	(1955-09-17) September 17, 1955 (age 61) San Jose, California, U.S.
Residence	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley
Occupation	Actor, voice actor
Years active	1986–present
Known for	The voice of Mario
Notable work	Mario series
Website	Official website

Charles Martinet (/mɑːrtᵻnˈeɪ/; French: [maʁtinɛ]; born September 17, 1955) is an American actor and voice actor. He is best known for voicing Mario in the Super Mario video game series. Martinet has voiced this title character of Nintendo's flagship video game franchise since 1995, and he also voices related characters such as Baby Mario, Luigi, Baby Luigi, Wario, Waluigi and Toadsworth.

Martinet is of French descent and speaks fluent French and Spanish. His family moved to Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain when he was 12 years old, and later his family moved to Paris, France. He attended the American School of Paris and graduated in 1974.

Martinet attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he originally intended to study international law. His senior year, he decided to discontinue his studies after a tutor told him to "regurgitate information he'd written in his book, chapter-by-chapter". A friend suggested to him to take acting classes to combat his fear of public speaking. His first role was a monologue from the Spoon River Anthology. Eventually, Martinet earned an apprenticeship at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. After training with the Berkeley Rep for several years, Martinet went to London to attend the Drama Studio London, where among other skills, he discovered his talent for accents and dialects. Upon returning to California he joined the Berkeley Reparatory Theatre. He went on to become a founding member of the San Jose Repertory Theatre for four years.