Michael Dowse
Birthdate: Apr 19, 1973
Birthplace: London, Ontario, Canada
Michael Dowse is a versatile Canadian director/writer/producer who burst onto the Canadian movie scene with a delirious comedy about headbangers titled FUBAR (2002), which Dowse directed, co-wrote and co-produced with co-stars Dave Lawrence and Paul Spence, and which Dowse also photographed and edited on an estimated $10,000 budget and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, receiving enough acclaim and business for Telefilm Canada to back the production of Dowse’s sequel, FUBAR 2: Balls to the Wall (2010), reuniting Dowse with Lawrence and Spence, and premiering in the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto Film Festival before a release by Alliance Films.
Dowse was director/writer of one of his most accomplished films, the British-Canadian production It’s All Gone Pete Tong (2004), Dowse’s dazzling tale of a DJ who goes deaf while working on Ibiza, starring Paul Kaye, with Beatriz Batarda, Kate Magowan and Mike Wilmot, and distributed by Alliance Atlantis/Odeon Films (Canada)/Redbus Film Distribution (U.K.) after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival.
Dowse was director only of his first U.S. movie, the comedy-drama Take Me Home Tonight (2011), starring Topher Grace (who co-wrote the story with Gordon Kaywin), Anna Faris, Dan Fogler and Teresa Palmer, produced by Imagine Entertainment/Rogue and released by Relativity Media (U.S.)/Universal Pictures (International) to a $7.4 million box office return. Dowse returned to Canadian territory as director of the terrific hockey comedy, Goon (2011), co-written by Jay Baruchel (who also produced and had a major role) and Evan Goldberg, starring Seann William Scott, Liev Schreiber, Alison Pill, Marc-Andre Grondin, Kim Coates and Eugene Levy, and released by Alliance Films to only $7 million but went on to become a hit on its Netflix release.
Michael Dowse was the director only of the Canada-Ireland co-production, The F Word (2013), co-starring Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan, with Megan Park, Adam Driver, Mackenzie Davis, and Rafe Spall, but under-performing at the box office for distributor Entertainment One after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival. Dowse’s next theatrical credit was as co-writer (with Ken Scott) of the Don McKellar-directed Canadian comedy, The Grand Seduction (2013), the English-language remake of the Jean-Francois Pouliot-directed Quebec comedy, La grand seduction/Seducing Doctor Lewis (2003), starring Taylor Kitsch, Brendan Gleeson, Liane Balaban and Gordon Pinsent, and which was released by Entertainment One after a Toronto Film Festival launch.
Dowse was director only for his next four features, starting with the American buddy cop movie, Stuber (2019), co-starring Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista, with Iko Uwais, Natalie Morales, Betty Gilpin, Mira Sorvino, and Karen Gillan, premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival and co-produced and released by 20th Century Fox. Dowse directed the comedy, Coffee & Kareem (2020), for streaming on Netflix, and the Christmas comedy, 8-Bit Christmas (2021) for streaming on HBO Max, and then Dowse returned to the big screen and reunited with star Bautista for the thriller, Trap House (2025), written by Gary Scott Thompson and Tom O’Connor, and co-starring Jack Champion, Sophia Lillis, Whitney Peak, Kate del Castillo and Bobby Cannavale, and released wide by Aura Entertainment.
Michael Dowse was director/producer of the Canadian biopic comedy, The Stunt Driver (date to be announced), starring Ed Helms, Ben Foster, Laurence Leboeuf, and Dan Bakkedahl, and which was produced by Cardinal Films/Wild Atlantic Pictures. Dowse was a film editor before his directorial career, serving as editor on director/co-writer John Hazlett’s dark comedy, Bad Money (1999), co-starring Graham Greene, Stephen Spender, and Karen Sillas, and then Canadian directors/writers Matt Bissonnette’s and Steven Clark’s crime comedy-drama, Looking for Leonard (2002), with Kim Huffman and Joel Bissonnette.
Personal life
Michael Dowse was born and raised in London, Ontario, Canada by his parents. Dowse is married with children and lives in Montreal. Dowse’s height is 6’ 5”.
Known For
Michael Dowse Movies
director
Previous (2)
- 2025 |
Trap House
A DEA agent and his partner pursue thieves: their own rebellious teens, who began robbing the cartel using their parents' tactics and classified intel.
- 2019 |
actor
Previous (11)
Facts About Michael Dowse
Hockey Take: Michael Dowse has said of hockey—the sport that’s a national religion in his native Canada—that it’s inherently funny, down to the violent punching bouts that can break out on the rink.
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