Mike Dowling is an Emmy nominated producer, author, and veteran advocate based in Los Angeles.
Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area to an Irish immigrant and Hispanic mother, Mike enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2001 and was in boot camp when 9/11 happened. Enlisting on an open contract, he was assigned to be a military policeman, became the distinguished honor graduate of his class, and would serve as a military working dog handler deploying with his MWD Rex to Iraq in 2004. They were attached to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines surviving the Triangle of Death and the First Battle of Fallujah. His book “Sergeant Rex: The Unbreakable Bond Between A Marine and His Military Working Dog” (Atria Books/2011) is a memoir of his service as a K9 handler.
Mike’s last assignment was with the Wounded Warrior Battalion West-Naval Medical Center, San Diego. He worked with wounded warriors throughout their rehabilitation process and would facilitate all therapeutic events and resources available to recovering Marines and their families.
Inspired by wounded warriors who wanted to work in entertainment, Mike moved to Los Angeles after his discharge in the winter of 2010 and completed an entertainment certificate program at UCLA extension.
From 2011-2013 he was part of the producing teams for the Veterans Affairs “Make the Connection” and “Veterans Crisis Line” campaigns connecting thousands of veterans to mental health services. In 2014 he worked as a segment producer for Participant Media’s Pivot TV and from 2015-2017 he produced digital media at We Are The Mighty, helping it grow to be one of the largest military media outlets. He has also been a military consultant on a wide range of productions for CBS, ABC, Animal Planet, and for Netflix working with Academy Award winning producers James Moll and Robert Zemeckis on the Medal of Honor docuseries(2018).
In 2021, Mike produced Post: Frag Out, a comedic short animated film about Marines that was rendered almost entirely in Unreal Engine.
Recently, he has worked as a military advisor to the upcoming film’s Causeway (2022) starring Jennifer Lawrence and Emancipation (2023) starring Will Smith.
In addition to entertainment, Mike has been a dedicated veterans’ advocate and serves on the board of directors at Hounds and Heroes, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that pairs disabled veterans with service dogs.
He has been awarded Veteran of the Year in California’s 46th district, named to HillVets top 100 military veteran influencers, and to We Are The Mighty's annual Mighty 25 list. He has produced several PSA’s and short docs supporting the veteran community which you can watch below.
