With minimal fanfare, Nintendo has finally confirmed the new voice of Mario in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and he has at least one thing in common with Charles Martinet in that you probably won't recognize much of his pre-Mario work.
"Incredibly proud to have voiced Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder," voice actor Kevin Afghani says on Twitter. "Thanks to Nintendo for inviting me into the Flower Kingdom!" Nintendo itself hasn't put out a public-facing statement on the cast, but the company has seemingly confirmed to IGN that Afghani is, indeed, the new voice of the Mario brothers, at least for Wonder.
Incredibly proud to have voiced Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Thanks to Nintendo for inviting me into the Flower Kingdom!October 13, 2023
If you don't recognize Afghani's name, you're probably not alone. Many of his IMDB credits are for parts in various animated web series, including a stint as Raditz on TeamFourStar's Dragon Ball R&R series. He does have one video game credit, however - he's in Genshin Impact as the event-exclusive NPC known as Ask-Me-For-Directions Arnold. Quite a jump going from a talking bird statue to the most famous character in video games, but all I can really say is congratulations.
While these days the now-former voice of Mario, Charles Martinet, is considered a legend among fans, it's worth noting that his credits were similarly obscure when he was first brought on to voice the plumber. He'd been in just a few bit parts in films and TV prior to crossing paths with Nintendo, perhaps most notably appearing as an unnamed reporter in the Dirty Harry film The Dead Pool. Clearly, Nintendo's still all about bringing in relative unknowns to define the voice of its most popular character. Well, unless a Hollywood movie is involved, I guess.
It's worth noting that Afghani has only been confirmed for Super Mario Bros. Wonder - there's no word yet on whether he'll be the new voice of the Mario brothers going forward. We've apparently been hearing his Mario voice in the Wonder trailers all this time with minimum suspicions from fans, which is a very good first sign.
Nintendo previously said it had no intention of revealing Mario's new voice actor until the credits of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, but it seems a massive fandom investigation into the actor's identity this week forced the publisher's hand.
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