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Santino Marella On Where His Accent Comes From, Having to Get Into Character to Do It

December 5, 2019 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Santino Marella Image Credit: WWE

– Speaking with Chris Van Vliet for a new interview, Santino Marella discussed where he came up with this accent for the character and how he has to be in character to have the accent. Marella discussed how he took inspiration from the multi-cultural area that he grew up in in Mississauga, Ontario and combined accents he knew for the voice we heard come out.

Highlights from the discussion and the full video are below:

On where he came up with the accent: “Yeah, the accent is — it was an interesting accent. It kind of evolved over the years. There was a little Borat, a little Nacho Libre, a little Italian, one of my uncle[s] and stuff. So it was pretty interesting. Growing up in Canada, in Mississauga, almost all of my friends were first-generation Canadian … There’s a definite pattern. I was looking at my elementary school pictures, and it’s Poland, Malta, Greece — no, not too many Greeks, because I went to Catholic school and they’re Orthodox. But Italian, and Portuguese, and just repeats. Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Maltese, Italian, Portuguese. It was interesting.”

On if it was an accent he heard growing up: “Well that’s the thing. So it’s actually a combination of all my friends’ parents. Croatian, Slovenian. My neighbor Ivan is where I got ‘Son omma gun’ from. Ivan says ‘Son omma gun.’ And you know, all our parents kind of butchered the language or had a funny expression that I just — my friends would call me out on it. Like, ‘You’re making a living off making fun of our parents!’ Or ‘copying our parents.'”

On if people ask him to do the accent at conventions: “Yeah, I don’t do the accent. Once I’ve started a conversation being me, it’s kind of hard to do it. So actually, here’s a funny story. Kofi Kingston, when he first started and was Jamaican, he had the accent. So we were the only two guys that were speaking on television in away that we don’t speak in real life. So when I would do interviews like with radio stations with WWE, there’s a liaison between the two, and he would say, ‘Okay, hold on.’ ‘Hey, Santino, you’re on the line with Joe from 102.5!’ And then I would immediately be in character the whole time. But the WWE Magazine, they have your direct number. So they’ll call you, ‘Hey, hey Santino, it’s Josh from the magazine. Can I do an interview with you and can you be in character?’ But I’ve already started the conversation. So I remember one time Kofi’s like, ‘Hey can I ask you a question? When the magazine calls you, do you use your accent?’ And I was like, ‘I know! It’s so awkward.’ But once I start talking with somebody I don’t like to do the accent.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.

article topics :

Santino Marella, WWE, Jeremy Thomas