Oscar Martinez (The Office)
Oscar Martinez is a Mexican-American fictional character from the US mockumentary-style television series The Office. He is portrayed by Oscar Nunez.

Character

Personality 
Oscar is known for being a rational, quietly efficient and an intellectual worker in the office. He is often the one who asks pointed financial questions that his colleagues will not know the answer to, or that his boss avoids answering. Oscar refers to himself as being in the "Coalition for Reason" with co-workers Jim (played by John Krasinski) and Pam Halpert (played by Jenna Fischer). According to Nunez, the three "are there to set up the comic situations" for boss Michael and Dwight Schrute. Oscar is considered to be a know-it-all by many of his co-workers. He is frequently exasperated by the antics of his co-workers and tends to find their humor offensive.  In an AfterElton.com interview, Nunez explained he plays the character of an accountant, who happens to be gay, and is not really interested in what the documentarians are filming. In the episode "Dwight Christmas", he is openly acknowledged as a Democrat.

Biography 
Oscar Martinez has been an accountant at the Scranton branch office of Dunder Mifflin since 1999. In the first season episode "Diversity Day", he is revealed to have been the son of Mexican parents who immigrated to the United States one year before he was born. Oscar is also gay. He was outed by his boss Michael Scott in "Gay Witch Hunt". However, it was implied that the character was gay in "Halloween" where he dresses as a woman and is then discovered to be gay by the documentary crew in the episode "The Secret". In earlier episodes, many co-workers erroneously attribute to him various Mexican stereotypes, but after his outing, the stereotypes are more focused on him being gay, particularly by Michael. Nunez explained in a 2008 interview that the character feels amusement, pity and hatred towards his boss. His counterpart in the British iteration of the show is accountant Oliver.

In earlier seasons, he is seen driving a Saturn Ion. 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, a company car he was lent as a result of his unwanted outing by Michael.

Oscar is a founding member of the Finer Things Club. He's also a member of amateur trivia team, “Aesop's Foibles”. In the "Finale" episode, it reveals Oscar runs for State Senator of Pennsylvania and ultimately wins. Oscar also becomes a godfather to Angela and Dwight's child, Philip.

LGBTQ representation 

For his portrayal of Oscar Martinez, 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) 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.

References

Fictional accountants
Fictional gay men
The Office (American TV series) characters
Television characters introduced in 2005
Atheism in television
Male characters in television
Fictional LGBT characters in television
Fictional Mexican-American people