'It's-a me!': The voice of Super Mario comes to Dublin

Crashing a voice-acting audition at the very last minute ended up changing Charles Martinet’s life, as he became the voice of a videogames icon in Nintendo’s princess-rescuing plumber Mario — staking a place in millions of childhoods. He speaks with Mike McGrath-Bryan about his fantastic journey

L-R: Charles Martinet, voice actor; Mario, plumber and royal rescuer in Nintendo's Super Mario series

With an academic background that lurches from political philosophy to theatre, and a subsequent acting career that encompassed Shakespeare, Matlock and corporate communications videos, the story of American actor Charles Martinet was already an interesting one before a chance message from a friend led him to crash an audition for voice talent while living in San Francisco in 1992.

Charles Martinet: a career in theatre informed a last-minute decision to audition for Mario in 1992