Japanese · b. 1952 · 1980s – 1990s
Shigeru Miyamoto performed the original Mario voice grunts and shouts in early Nintendo titles and promotional material, making him the first voice of the character before a dedicated voice actor took the role.
Before Nintendo hired a professional voice actor for Mario, the game's creator Shigeru Miyamoto provided the character's vocalisations in early appearances. The iconic "Wahoo!" and assorted jumping grunts that appeared in demo kiosks and early promotional footage were performed by Miyamoto himself, establishing the cheerful, Italian-inflected tone that Charles Martinet would later define more fully. Miyamoto has also provided his own voice for Nintendo promotional material and Nintendo Direct presentations, and in the context of the Mario franchise his vocal contributions — though brief — represent the first time the character made any sound at all. This is a historically interesting footnote to his career as a designer: the man who created the world's most recognised video game character was also the first to give it a voice.