The Voice of Mario
While I've always preferred the Captain Lou Albano Mario voice, there's no doubt that when we think of Mario, we think of a gibberish-spouting Castrati speaking entirely in burbles of Italian stereotype. Now meet the man behind the voice: Charles Matinet.
How did this saturnine-haired American get the job as the world's famous, drugged-out plumber?
It all started around 15 years ago at the CES. Mr. Martinet reluctantly "crashed" an audition. The camera man was putting his equipment away and the group was getting ready to call it a night. After convincing the crew to begin taping again he heard about the role, an Italian plumber from Brooklyn whose visage is going to be used in an interactive demo. At first Mr. Martinet thought of a stereotypical Italian voice with a thick accent, the result was a voice that sounded like it was out of a mob movie. This voice just wasn't fun so he switched gears into an older Italian man. Things changed when the camera was recording. He started speaking like the Mario we all know and love until the audition tape ran out. The only tape that was sent over for the role was Mr. Martinet's and as we all know he got the job.
His homepage is something of a hoot, too. I particularly like the streaming movie which shows him in many strangely familiar informercials from the 80's and 90's. Mario's that guy?
It's a me Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario [Silicon Era]
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