Vincent Dowling is Lifetime Associate Director and former Artistic Director of the Ireland's National Theatre – The Abbey Theatre, Dublin, where he was a leading actor for 23 years. Producing Director of The Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland; President for Life, Founder and first Artistic Director of The Miniature Theatre of Chester. He has acted, directed, produced in London, Paris, Hong Kong, The Moscow Arts, Boston, New York, Toronto, and at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC. He has toured Ireland, Great Britain and the United States.
Dowling has 5 doctorates in Fine Arts and Humane Letters from American Universities & Colleges. He’s done solo performances on three State occasions at The White House. Vincent won an Emmy for directing and producing ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ on PBS, which starred his daughter Bairbre Dowling, the late great Larry Gates, Colm Meaney, and Aideen O’Kelly. He discovered Tom Hanks, giving him his first years of professional acting work. In the first Abbey Theatre Tour of the United States and Canada in over 50 years, he directed Roma Downey, who played ‘Pegeen Mike’ to Frank McCusker’s ‘Playboy.’ David Kelly was ‘Old Mahon’ in the production, and was nominated for a Jefferson Award.
Between America and Ireland, Vincent has lectured and taught at Schools, Colleges, Universities, City Halls, State Houses, Churches, Chapels, Cathedrals, and Synagogues. His produced plays include ‘The Upstart Crow', which he will direct for California Actors Radio Theatre in June 2007, ‘The Fit-Ups' with Tom Hanks, and adaptations of 'Cherry Orchard' by Chekov, and ‘Lysistrata’ by Aristophanes. He has published poems, op-ed articles, and an autobiography, ‘Astride the Moon.’ Vincent is currently editing the second part of his autobiography to be released in the Spring of 2008. In 2003, Vincent was the commencement speaker at Kent State University, who will publish his second book ‘The Very Owls in Circles Move.’ He is married to artist Olwen O'Herlihy Dowling. Between them they have four daughters, a son and seven grand children.