Dwight Kurt Schrute III is a fictional character on NBC's The Office portrayed by Rainn Wilson. His counterpart in the original UK version of The Office is Gareth Keenan. Dwight is the top salesman for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and has won numerous awards for his successes, despite lacking social skills and common sense. Additionally, despite his personal dislike of Jim Halpert, the two have been shown to be a very effective sales team. Dwight's ability as a salesman, though, has rarely commanded the respect of his peers or led to higher levels of professional success.
He is a physically imposing man at 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) with little sense of humor, a hunger for authority (however meager it may be), and a gullible nature that often makes him the target of pranks, primarily at the hands of Jim Halpert. Despite his severe naivety, he is very knowledgeable on a wide range of topics including ping-pong, bears, and beets.
In an episode commentary on the season-one DVD, Wilson refers to Dwight as a "fascist nerd". In a featurette on the season-three DVD, Wilson describes Dwight as "someone who does not hate the system, but has a deep and abiding love for it".
Dwight is a former volunteer sheriff. He has been trained in the art of surveillance. He enjoys Battlestar Galactica , the Harry Potter franchise, The Lord of the Rings , The Crow , Star Wars , Lost , Survivor , and 24 . Dwight lives on his family's 60-acre (240,000 m 2 ) beet farm, in a nine bedroom farmhouse (with one bathroom), with his cousin Mose (played by producer/writer Michael Schur), where they grow table beets. Dwight also likes paintball, survivalism, Karate and many weapons. He drives a 1987 Pontiac Trans Am.
Not much is revealed about Dwight's parents except that his father used to take him hunting, and also that his father battled obesity, high blood pressure, and cancer. Dwight once mentioned that his grandfather fought in WWII and ended up in an Allied Prison Camp , implying he was a soldier in the German army.
Casting
Further information: Rainn WilsonDwight Schrute is portrayed by American actor Rainn Wilson. The character is based on Gareth Keenan of the original British version of the show, who was played by actor Mackenzie Crook. On February 24, 2007, Wilson hosted Saturday Night Live , becoming the second cast member from The Office to host after Steve Carell.
All original series characters were adapted for the U.S. version. Rainn Wilson had watched every episode of the original British series before he auditioned for the show. Wilson had originally auditioned for Michael, a performance he described as a "terrible Gervais impersonation"; however, the casting directors liked his audition as Dwight much more and hired him for the role. Wilson based Dwight's hairstyle on his own style he had when he was sixteen. In an interview he said that he went to a barber to get "the worst haircut possible."
Character information
When the series begins, Dwight Schrute is a salesman at the Scranton branch of the paper-goods distribution company Dunder Mifflin. Dwight formally held the title of "Assistant to the Regional Manager" but constantly refers to himself as "Assistant Regional Manager," attempting to elevate himself to second-in-command to Michael Scott. Dwight craves authority over others and relishes any minor task that Michael or anyone else gives him. Though Dwight acts like a know-it-all, he is actually quite gullible and naïve. For this reason, he is easily tricked and tormented by his desk-mate and fellow salesman Jim Halpert. Dwight speaks in a halting, dramatic manner, even in casual conversations. Dwight almost always wears a mustard-colored short-sleeved dress shirt with a dark tie, often with a brown suit jacket. He often uses one-upmanship to better himself over his peers, such as boasting about how he trains specific parts of his body or how he can outrun Toby Flenderson. Though he has little, if any, sense of humor, Dwight often engages in jokes and games to appease Michael ,but fails because of Michael's perception of himself as the jokester. After Dwight temporarily leaves Dunder Mifflin, it is revealed that Dwight watered the office plant and arranged the toys on Michael's desk in a manner that made Michael happy.
Family and childhood
Dwight was a twin, but he "resorbed" his twin while still in his mother's womb (this occurrence is called twin embolisation syndrome). He believes that he now has "the strength of a full grown man and a little baby". He claims to have been born weighing 13 lb 5 oz (6.0 kg), rendering his mother incapable of walking for three months and two days. In "Baby Shower", Dwight claims to have performed his own circumcision. Dwight was shunned by his family between the ages of four and six for forgetting to save the excess oil from a can of tuna. He lost a grade school spelling bee by misspelling the word "failure" in front of the entire school. In seventh grade, Dwight played the invented role of "Mutey the Mailman" in a production of Oklahoma! He explains that there were not enough roles for all of the children, so they made up roles. Dwight's father — also named Dwight Schrute — battled high blood pressure and obesity all his life, but often went hunting with his son. In the Season Two DVD bloopers it is revealed that Dwight's father would take him and his brothers to a swimming hole on hot summer days as a child until 10:00 AM, then they would work the beet fields until well after midnight.
Dwight's paternal great-grandfather, Dweide Schrude, was Amish and apparently others in his family have been as well, since Dwight's cousin and housemate Mose dresses as a practicing member of the Amish. Dwight speaks German, but his knowledge of it is "pre-industrial and mostly religious" as might be expected if the language was learned exclusively in an Amish church or context.
Dwight lives in a nine-bedroom, one-bathroom (which is located under the porch as revealed in "Office Olympics"), farmhouse on his family's 60-acre (240,000 m 2 ) beet farm with Mose, selling beets to local stores, restaurants and roadside beet stands. It is also revealed that Dwight uses part of his farm to grow hemp, which a pizza delivery boy refers to as "crappy weed". Dwight and Mose have also turned Schrute Farm into a very ramshackle bed & breakfast that was visited during "Money" by Jim and Pam. The bed and breakfast had three theme rooms, "America, Irrigation, and Nighttime".
Dwight's maternal grandfather, whose surname is Manheim (according to Dwight's web log on NBC.com) fought in World War II and killed twenty men before ending up in an Allied prison camp. In "Take Your Daughter to Work Day", Michael refers to Dwight's grandmother as a "Nazi war criminal". In "Dunder Mifflin Infinity", Dwight reveals that Grandpa Manheim is still alive at 103 years, and relates his attempt to visit him in Argentina. His travel visa was protested by the Shoah Foundation. Dwight reveals the day of casino night that he is wearing the suit his grandfather was buried in (Casino Night). It is possible that this is the same grandfather that was reburied in an "old oil drum" (Grief Counseling).
According to one of Dwight's web logs on NBC.com's "Schrute-Space", he had an uncle named Gunther, a goat farmer, who fled the Allied invasion of Germany and married a Finnish woman with whom he had 17 children. He also had an Uncle Grit who revealed that the Schrute family has an ongoing hatred of Harry S Truman because they were staunch supporters of Thomas Dewey. In another blog, he mentions a cousin named Heindl, who received numerous injuries and infections from an attack by a small sheep dog that was working for their family.
Interests
Dwight is trained in the art of surveillance and is a former Lackawanna County volunteer sheriff's deputy. He is also a purple belt in Goju-Ryu karate. Dwight is a pop culture and sci-fi buff who has expressed fanship of many sci-fi movies and popular TV shows. In the episode "The Fire", he referenced the movie The Crow as being his favorite. He hints at belief in fictional creatures such as androids, zombies, and vampires (though curiously, despite having claimed in "Business School" to have shot a werewolf, he says in one of his blog entries that he does not believe in them; however, he may have simply been denying claims of werewolves at Schrute Farms in order to prevent potential visitors from being frightened away). He enjoys playing ping-pong and states that many of his heroes are table tennis players. He is also shown to be very good at the sport. His musical tastes vary, but classic rock seems to be a recurring theme. His personal musical talents are not lacking, as he plays guitar and recorder, and sings. He has a fascination with cars; he usually checks a car's suspension, especially muscle cars. He is technologically talented and shows a passion for the online role playing game, Second Life, in which the only difference between himself and his avatar is that his avatar can fly. He also shows an interest in trains as he's restoring a life size train in his slaughterhouse during "The Meeting", which has him bonding with Toby as they share the same interest.