Who is Oscar Martinez in The Office?

Show

The Office

Played by

Oscar Nunez

First episode

“Pilot”Season 1, Episode 1, aired March 24, 2005

Role

Main cast

Network

NBC

Occupation

Accountant, Dunder Mifflin Scranton

Show run

2005 to 2013

Oscar Martinez is the most level-headed person in the Dunder Mifflin Scranton accounting department, a careful thinker surrounded by chaos. Played by Oscar Nunez, he is one of the show's sharpest straight men and was a rare openly gay regular character on network television in the mid-2000s.

On The Office, Oscar Martinez's story runs through Angela Martin (Fellow Accountant), Kevin Malone (Fellow Accountant), Michael Scott (Boss), Dwight Schrute (Coworker), and Jim Halpert.

Who is Oscar Martinez?

Oscar is an accountant at the Scranton branch, where he works between Angela and Kevin. He is the son of Mexican immigrants, a frequent target of Michael's clumsy comments about culture, and the person most likely to calmly explain why an idea makes no sense. He reads widely, likes fine things, and counts Jim, Pam, and Toby as fellow members of what he calls the Coalition for Reason.

He is also gay, which the documentary crew discovers before his coworkers do. In "The Secret," Dwight follows Oscar home when he calls in sick and spends the afternoon with Oscar and his boyfriend Gil without ever figuring out who Gil is.

Personality and comedy

Much of Oscar's comedy is in his reactions: the tired sigh, the polite correction, the look to camera when Michael says something unforgivable. His confidence can tip into smugness, and the show enjoys knocking him down a peg. In "China," he corrects Michael in front of everyone, turns out to be wrong himself, and is mercilessly mocked for it.

Oscar also loves a little mischief, especially teaming up with Kevin to tease Angela. Over the years his relationship with Angela grows from tense to surprisingly close, and by the end they are something like friends.

Key storylines

In the season three premiere, "Gay Witch Hunt," Michael accidentally outs Oscar to the whole office and then makes things worse by kissing him during a meeting about tolerance. The company sends Oscar on a paid three-month vacation with a company car to head off a lawsuit, and he returns to a Mexican-themed welcome party in "The Return." Later he develops a crush on a new warehouse worker, Matt, and organizes a happy hour just to talk to him.

In season nine Oscar begins an affair with Angela's husband, State Senator Robert Lipton. Kevin stumbles onto the secret, Angela eventually learns the truth, and the senator later comes out publicly. Oscar ends up taking Angela in when she loses her home. By the finale he is preparing to run for the Pennsylvania State Senate himself and is the godfather to Angela and Dwight's son.

Behind the scenes and legacy

Oscar Nunez is one of several supporting cast members who came to the show from improv comedy. He appears in most of the series' episodes, and his character was a milestone in representation: GLAAD reported that during the 2006 to 2007 season he was the only LGBT character of color on a regular series.

Nunez reprised the role in The Paper, the follow-up series to The Office, which premiered on Peacock in September 2025. In it, Oscar has moved to Toledo, Ohio, where he works as an accountant for Enervate, the company that owns the local paper, the Toledo Truth Teller.

Oscar Martinez: frequently asked questions

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