Alma M. Gutierrez is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...

on the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

drama ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...

'', played by actress

Michelle Paress Michelle Paress is an American actress. She starred in the HBO program ''The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broad ...

. Gutierrez is a dedicated and idealistic young reporter on the city desk of ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...

''.

Biography

Gutierrez joins the staff of ''

'' five months before the fifth season begins after working for the ''

Sun-Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Br ...

'' in

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. She is eager for the chance to prove herself and is enjoying her new career. Her abilities have already caught the attention of city desk editor

Gus Haynes Augustus "Gus" Haynes is a fictional character on the HBO drama ''The Wire'', played by actor Clark Johnson, who is also a director for the series. Haynes is the dedicated and principled editor for ''The Baltimore Sun'' city desk. Character depic ...

. Gutierrez lives with her boyfriend.

Season 5

Gutierrez submits a story about a fire in a row house and is embarrassed in front of the whole newsroom by her editor

and copy editor Jay Spry, who take her to task over her use of the word evacuate. Gutierrez is also assigned by Haynes to get a reaction quote from drug dealer Ricardo "Fat-Face Rick" Hendrix after the editor notices a lucrative real estate deal between Hendrix and the city council. Gutierrez is sent to Hendrix's strip club Desperado and comes back with a strong quote. She receives a contributing line in the story for her efforts. Her colleague

Scott Templeton M. Scott Templeton is a fictional character on the HBO drama ''The Wire'', played by actor Tom McCarthy. The actor joined the starring cast as the series' fifth season began. Biography Templeton is a young reporter who allows his extreme ambitio ...

is disparaging about the credit she received and the credentials of the paper as a whole but Gutierrez remains upbeat. Gutierrez usually covers the police beat and is excited when she reports on a home invasion and triple homicide. She awakes early the next day to look at her story in print, but is disappointed to find that it has been edited down and buried within the paper. Haynes tells her that it was a bureaucratic mishap, but her colleague Mike Fletcher tells her the piece was cut because of the area where the victims are from. Gutierrez is worried when buy-outs are announced to cut costs at the paper, but ultimately has more opportunities as veteran crime beat reporter

Roger Twigg Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic languages, Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", " ...

accepts a buy-out. Without Twigg's expertise and contacts, Gutierrez struggles to find sources to provide analysis for a story about Mayor

Tommy Carcetti Thomas J. "Tommy" Carcetti ( ) is a fictional character on the HBO drama ''The Wire'', played by Aidan Gillen. Carcetti is an ambitious and venal Baltimore politician who begins the series with a seat on the city council. Biography Season 3 To ...

replacing police commissioner

Ervin Burrell Ervin H. Burrell is a fictional character on the HBO drama ''The Wire'', played by Frankie Faison. Burrell was an officer in the Baltimore Police Department who ascended from Deputy Commissioner of Operations to Commissioner over the course of th ...

. Gutierrez also works with the city desk team to prepare a last-minute story about the

Clay Davis R. Clayton "Clay" Davis is a fictional character on the HBO drama ''The Wire (TV series), The Wire'', played by actor Isiah Whitlock, Jr. Davis is a corrupt Maryland State Senate, Maryland State Senator with a reputation for pocketing bribes. How ...

corruption case which was initially missed because there is no daily city court reporter on staff.

Production

Paress is married to former ''The Wire'' star Larry Gilliard Jr., who played

D'Angelo Barksdale D'Angelo "Dee" Barksdale (c.1978-79 - July 21, 2003) is a fictional character on the HBO drama ''The Wire'', played by Larry Gilliard Jr. D'Angelo is the nephew of Avon Barksdale and a lieutenant in his drug dealing organization which controls m ...

. The part is Paress' first major role on screen, having previously worked primarily on stage. Paress submitted an audition tape expecting to be considered for a smaller role and was asked to play Gutierrez by executive producer and head writer

David Simon David Judah Simon (born February 9, 1960) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on ''The Wire'' (2002–08). He worked for ''The Baltimore Sun'' City Desk for twelve years (1982–95), wrote '' Hom ...

. Paress describes her character as ambitious, principled and light hearted.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutierrez, Alma The Wire characters Fictional Hispanic and Latino American people Fictional reporters Television characters introduced in 2008 Female characters in television