'It's-a me, Super Mario': Charles Martinet shares how he got the job of a lifetime

The saying goes if you love what you do; you never work a day in your life. Super Mario would agree – or at least the voice behind the iconic character.

In a dramatic reveal in the CTV News studio Friday morning, akin to that of Superman or Spiderman rushing to save the day, Charles Martinet pulled open his top shirt revealing his alter ego.

"It's-a me, Super Mario," Martinet said with a big grin in the voice of an Italian plumber known around the globe.

Charles Martinet, the voice of Nintendo's Mario, reveals his iconic character during an interview on CTV Morning Live in Winnipeg on Oct. 28, 2022.

Martinet, the voice actor for Nintendo's Mario, Luigi, and many others, is in town for the Winnipeg ComicCon which runs at the RBC Convention Centre from Oct. 28 to 30.

Martinet said he can't wait to be at the event and meet the fans – many sharing the impact he has had on their lives.

"People come up to me (and say), ' You're the voice of my childhood,'" he said. "I'm just doing what I love to do, but it has such an impact."

He's been doing what he loves to do since his official debut as Mario in 1992.

"Oh my goodness, I crashed an audition 31 years ago. I was at the beach doing what actors do, waiting for my pager to go off," he said, adding he got a call from a friend telling him to crash the audition.

"I said, 'I'm a professional actor, I would never crash an audition… where should I go?'"

Martinet did end up going to the audition. He was the last one to get there and was told to talk like an Italian plumber from Brooklyn.

"The only direction was, don't stop until you run out of things to say. I guess everybody else stopped, but I never did," he said.

More than three decades later, he still hasn't stopped.

Martinet actually holds the Guinness World Record title for the most voice-over performances in a video game.

"It feels great, you know the thing is I just do what I love to do in life," he said. "My message to everybody is – find your joy, find your happiness."