Super Mario's current voice actor Kevin Afghani has set the record straight and debunked an odd online myth – no, he isn't and has seemingly never been the enthusiastic voice behind Nintendo Directs.
Ever since he stepped into the boots of the evergreen plumber in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, taking over from the iconic Charles Martinet after more than three decades, there's been recurring fan chatter that says Afghani was also secretly the guy who would exuberantly narrate Nintendo Directs (the publisher's marketing-stuffed showcases).
The online speculation became so pervasive, even Microsoft Bing falsely corroborated the rumor while I was researching this story. (Don't trust the AI that automatically spams you answers whenever you search things up online, kids.)
Either way, Afghani finally put the rumors to bed in a new interview with USA Today. "I'll give you one," he says when asked if there's anything – anything – he'd like to talk about. "I was never in Nintendo Direct. There's this weird narrative online I was in Nintendo Directs, I narrated Nintendo Directs. I never worked for Nintendo before being Mario."
Elsewhere, the actor shared that he has "unbelievable respect" for Super Mario's OG voice Charles Martinet and, even though Afghani's usually a cheery lad, he "can't help but get teary-eyed" while talking about his love for the joyous platformer series.
