News

Courtney Lin Replaces Samantha Kelly as Voice of Princess Peach in Mario Game Franchise

Voice actress Courtney Lin announced on X/Twitter on Monday that she is the new voice of Princess Peach and Baby Peach, replacing Samantha Kelly as of the release of the Mario Kart World Nintendo Switch 2 game on June 5. Laila Berzins later revealed on Wednesday that she is the new voice of the main Toad, also replacing Kelly, as of Mario Kart World. Laura Stahl revealed that she is the new voice of Toadette, and Paul Castro Jr. posted that he is the voice of the male Toads in the game.

Kelly revealed on her Instagram account on June 10 that Nintendo had replaced her as the voice of Princess Peach and Toad in Mario Kart World.

Kelly began voicing Princess Peach and Toad in Mario Strikers Charged in 2007. Prior to Kelly, Jen Taylor previously voiced the characters since the Mario Golf game in 1999, though Nicole Mills voiced Princess Peach in some series titles.

Among other recent voice changes in the franchise, Kevin Afghani replaced longtime voice Charles Martinet as Mario and Luigi, starting in the Super Mario Bros. Wonder game, which launched last October for Nintendo Switch. Afghani also voices Wario and Waluigi in Mario Kart World. Nintendo announced in August 2024 that Martinet was stepping back from recording voices for Mario and other characters. He transitioned to the new role of "Mario Ambassador." Martinet was the voice actor of Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, among other characters, in Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. video game franchise.

Sources: Courtney Lin's X/Twitter account, Paul Castro's X/Twitter account, Laila Berzins' X/Twitter account, Laura Stahl's X/Twitter account