Dowling emigrated to the United States and was artistic and producing director of The Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival (GLSF) in Cleveland, Ohio from 1976 to 1984,Vincent Dowling, Curriculum Vitae: Summary where he directed, produced and acted in many classical works, by Shakespeare and others. He is credited with discovering actor Tom Hanks. Dowling received an Ohio Valley local Emmy for the 1983 PBS broadcast of his 1982 GLSF production of The Playboy of the Western World.
