Michael Scott (The Office)

Michael Scott
The Office character
Steve Carell as Michael Gary Scott
First appearance	"Pilot"
Last appearance	"Finale"
Portrayed by	Steve Carell
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Director, Paper Distribution of the Department of Natural Resources, Boulder, CO Regional Manager, Dunder Mifflin, Scranton, PA Regional Manager, Dunder Mifflin Sabre, Scranton, PA Regional Co-Manager, Dunder Mifflin, Scranton, PA Sales Representative, Dunder Mifflin, Scranton, PA Founder, Michael Scott Paper Company, Scranton, PA Greeter, Men's Wearhouse, Scranton, PA
Family	Unnamed mother and father (divorced) Jeff (step-father) Josh Vaughan (Brother) Unnamed half-sister Unnamed grandmother (portrayed by Connie Sawyer) Luke Cooper (nephew, portrayed by Evan Peters) Four unnamed children
Significant other(s)	Holly Flax (wife) Jan Levinson (ex-girlfriend) Carol Stills (ex-girlfriend) Helene Beesly (ex-girlfriend) Donna Newton (ex-girlfriend)
Based on	David Brent

Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character in NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell and based on David Brent from the original British version of the program. Michael is the central character of the series, serving as Regional Manager of the Scranton branch of paper distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc. from season one through seven. However, he leaves Dunder Mifflin temporarily to form the Michael Scott Paper Company during the late end of the fifth season and shares a co-managerial position with Jim Halpert during a sixth season arc from "The Meeting" to "The Manager and the Salesman". In the end of the seventh season, he proposes to HR representative Holly Flax and moves to Colorado to take care of her aging parents, leaving the manager position to Deangelo Vickers in "Goodbye, Michael", to Andy Bernard in season eight, and ultimately to Dwight Schrute in season 9.

All original series characters were adapted for the U.S. version. NBC programmer Tracy McLaughlin suggested Paul Giamatti to producer Ben Silverman for the role of Michael Scott, but the actor declined. Martin Short, Hank Azaria, and Bob Odenkirk were also reported to be interested. In January 2004, Variety reported Steve Carell of the popular Comedy Central program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, was in talks to play the role. At the time, he was already committed to another NBC midseason replacement comedy, Come to Papa. Due to Carell being unavailable, Bob Odenkirk was selected as Michael Scott and was part of the cast presented to NBC executives. However, Come to Papa was quickly canceled, allowing Carell to commit to The Office. Carell later stated he had only seen about half of the original pilot episode of the British series before he auditioned. He did not continue watching for fear that he would start copying Gervais' characterizations. On the audio commentary of The Pilot episode, director Ken Kwapis says that Carell's unfamiliarity with the British version of The Office and their experience working together on Watching Ellie influenced his being cast as Scott.