Oscar Martinez 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, ...

from the US mockumentary-style

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series o ...

'' played by Cuban-American actor

Oscar Nunez Oscar Nunez (born November 18, 1958), sometimes credited as Oscar Nuñez, is a Cuban-American actor. He is best known for his role as the Dunder Mifflin accountant Oscar Martinez on NBC's ''The Office''. He was a member of The Groundlings and l ...

.Comedian Oscar Núñez has 9-to-5 fun at 'The Office', LEE HERNÁNDEZ, New York Daily News, April 21, 2008

/ref> Nunez, who is straight, did not know his character might be gay when he first signed on. For the 2006–2007 season, the

Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals ...

(Glad) reported he was the only LGBT person of color character on a regular series. For the 2007–2008 season, he was the "only remaining gay character on a half-hour comedy program" and the only LGBT lead or supporting character who is a person of color. For the 2009–2010 season, Martinez was one of four people of color LGBT regular series characters; in 2010–2011 there were six and in 2011–2012 there were five.Where we are on TV: GLAAD’s 14th Annual Diversity Study Previews the 2009-2010 Primetime Television Season, Taj Paxton, Jonathan Rosales, Callan Koenig, Brian McGough, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Character

Background

Oscar Martinez is an accountant at the

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...

, office of the paper distribution company

Dunder Mifflin Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc. is a fictional paper and office supplies wholesale company featured in the American television series ''The Office''. It is analogous to Wernham Hogg in the British original of the series, and Papiers Jennings ...

and shares his first name with the actor who portrays him; series producer

Greg Daniels Gregory Martin Daniels (born June 13, 1963) is an American screenwriter, television producer, and director. He has worked on several television series, including writing for ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''The Simpsons'', adapting ''The Office (Am ...

stating that "Oscar" sounded like a good accountant's name. In the character's backstory, his parents are from Mexico and moved to the United States one year before he was born. His character was

outed Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBT person's sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia in order to discredit political opponents or to com ...

by his boss Michael Scott in "

Gay Witch Hunt "Gay Witch Hunt" is the third-season premiere of the American comedy television series ''The Office'', and the show's twenty-ninth episode overall. Written by executive producer and show runner Greg Daniels and directed by Ken Kwapis, the episode ...

," the third-season premiere episode devoted to the outing.Interview With Oscar Núñez, by Craig Young, October 4, 2006, AfterElton.com

/ref> However, the character was implied to be gay in the second-season episode "The Secret," when Dwight catches him faking sickness to spend the day with his boyfriend —Dwight was oblivious to this detail, as he was obsessed with proving that Oscar was not ill. In earlier episodes, many co-workers erroneously attribute to him various Mexican stereotypes (e.g. being involved in drug cartels), but after his outing, the stereotypes are more focused on his being gay, particularly by Michael, which may explain their conflicted relationship. Nunez explained in a 2008 interview that the character variously feels amusement, pity and hatred towards his fictional boss. His counterpart in the original British series is accountant Oliver.

Personality

Oscar is known for being a rational, quietly efficient, and intellectual worker in the office, often the one who will ask pointed financial questions that his colleagues will not know the answer to, or that Michael avoids answering."Oscar Nuñez Discusses His Character From 'The Office'", March 10, 2009, Mike Ryan, ''Star Pulse''

/ref> Martinez refers to himself as being in the "Coalition for Reason" with Jim Halpert, Jim and

Pam Halpert Pamela Morgan Halpert ( née Beesly) is a fictional character on the U.S. television sitcom ''The Office'', played by Jenna Fischer. Her counterpart in the original UK series of ''The Office'' is Dawn Tinsley. Pam begins the series as the recept ...

. According to Núñez, the three "are there to set up the comic situations" for boss Michael and Dwight Schrute, Michael's

toady In modern English, sycophant denotes an "insincere flatterer" and is used to refer to someone practising sycophancy (i.e., insincere flattery to gain advantage). The word has its origin in the legal system of Classical Athens. Most legal cases o ...

. He explained, "We can still be funny, but we are definitely the 'straight guys'." He is often the one can see the reality and logic in situations, including financial ones, such as when Michael started up his own paper company or when Ryan Howard launched an online startup business. Because of this, Oscar is considered to be a

know-it-all ''Know-It-All'' is the debut studio album by Canadian singer and songwriter Alessia Cara. It was released on November 13, 2015 through Def Jam Recordings. The album followed the release of her debut extended play (EP) ''Four Pink Walls'' (2015), w ...

by many of his co-workers. Oscar is frequently exasperated by the antics of his coworkers and tends to find their humor offensive. He is reserved, not really exhibiting a desire for close contact with any of his co-workers, although he is friendly when not outwardly pedantic. In an ''AfterElton.com'' interview, Núñez explained he plays the character of an accountant, who happens to be gay, and just trying to do his work and not really interested in what the documentarians are filming. Actor Núñez references the character as a Log Cabin Republican, though no mention of this has occurred in the show.Oscar performance: He's a straight stripper or a strait-laced gay -- and he loves playing both, Bruce Kirkland, ''Toronto Sun'', October 12, 2009

/ref> In the episode "

Dwight Christmas "Dwight Christmas" is the ninth episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series ''The Office'' and the 185th episode overall. The episode was written by Robert Padnick and directed by Charles McDougall. It originally aired on ...

", he is in fact openly acknowledged as a Democrat. His more balanced and normal personality makes him an everyman-type character, contrasting with the generally extroverted people with whom he works. He's also a charter member of the company's three-person (and exclusive) "Finer Things Club" with Pam and

Toby Flenderson ''The Office'' is an American television series based on the British television comedy of the same name. The format of the series is a parody of the fly on the wall documentary technique that intersperses traditional situation comedy segments w ...

.Why I Love Scranton: Emmy winner Oscar Núñez still digs his daily "commute" from his home in Los Angeles to The Office in Scranton, Pa. Michael Hammett, ''Arrive'', July/August 2009

/ref> He and co-worker

Kevin Malone Kevin Malone is a fictional character in the American television series ''The Office''. He is portrayed by Brian Baumgartner. Kevin's counterpart in the UK TV series is Keith Bishop, who shares Kevin's lack of communication skills, musical int ...

have a dynamic where Oscar is often the calm, rational one, while Kevin is the fun-loving one.

Biography

Oscar works at Dunder Mifflin since 1999. He is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

(after being involuntarily

by Michael) and previously lived with his partner, Gil. Even after his outing, Michael believed Gil to only be Oscar's roommate ("

"). In a deleted scene from "Gay Witch Hunt", Oscar explains that he notified Michael of his being gay during his job interview. This caused Michael to laugh repeatedly, and he hired Oscar on the spot because he was "the funniest person that ichaelhad ever met". Oscar then hid his sexuality from his co-workers for fear of losing his job. Before his outing, in the episode " The Fire", when asked by Jim "Who would you do?", Oscar offers the answer, "Pam"; also, in "

The Client Client(s) or The Client may refer to: * Client (business) * Client (computing), hardware or software that accesses a remote service on another computer * Customer or client, a recipient of goods or services in return for monetary or other valuabl ...

", he makes an intentionally vague reference to a woman he previously dated. In earlier seasons, he is seen driving a

Saturn Ion The Saturn Ion is a compact car sold by Saturn between the 2003 and 2007 model years. It used the GM Delta platform. The Ion replaced the Saturn S-Series in 2002, and was replaced by the new Saturn Astra in 2008. Production of the Ion ended on ...

. This is the same Saturn that Angela can later be seen driving, such as in the episode "Niagara". However, he is seen in the third season driving a

Lexus RX 400h The is a luxury crossover SUV sold since 1998 by Lexus, a luxury division of Toyota. Originally released in its home market of Japan in late 1997 as the Toyota Harrier, export sales began in March 1998 as the Lexus RX. Considered as the first ...

, a company car he was lent as a result of his unwanted outing by Michael. The company also gave him three months' paid leave in exchange for a promise not to sue them.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Oscar Fictional accountants Fictional gay males The Office (American TV series) characters Television characters introduced in 2005 Atheism in television Male characters in television Fictional LGBT characters in television