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Bowser's voice actor reveals how he landed the job

Find out Bow it happened
by rawmeatcowboy
22 March 2020
GN Version 5.0

Everyone knows Charles Martinet for his voice work on Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, and so on. Not many know the name Kenny James, the man who provides the voice for Bowser. Ever wonder how he landed the gig? James breaks things down in an interview with Nintenderos.

“As you mention, I really was in the right place at the right time. Working as a propane service technician, I started looking for a job as a voice actor. So one day one of my clients overheard my conversation with one of my colleagues when I was talking to her about it. Surprisingly, he asked me if I had any voice demo that I could leave him.

How could it be otherwise, I left a link to my website and she passed it to the studio that Nintendo of America normally uses to record their games. So the production manager started sending me auditions to do.

Thus, I ended up receiving a request to audition for Bowser. The audition consisted of the script and reference tracks from Super Mario Sunshine. At that time the game had already been released, but it had not been played yet. The truth is that I did my best imitation of the character’s old voice actor.

A few weeks later, I received an email telling me that I had gotten the job. Shortly after, my first session was completed: Super Mario Strikers.

I was terrified. I had already experienced what it is like to be in a recording studio as a singer, but I felt like I had never been in a place like that before.

Once we started, I realized that my mission was not to speak. Therefore, the tone of my voice changed rapidly after that. It sounded less human, I guess. The truth is that I am really happy with the way my work has been accepted by fans!”

[Link]