Bill O'Dowd
Bill O’Dowd, President of Dolphin Entertainment and Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Dolphin Digital Media, has over a decade of experience in the digital media and entertainment industries. Mr. O’Dowd founded Dolphin Entertainment in 1996, and it has since become one of the world’s leading production companies specializing in children’s and young adult live-action programming. Mr. O’Dowd enjoys a solid reputation as an Emmy-nominated producer, international distributor, and financier of quality television and digital programming. Dolphin’s work spans across entertainment genres from movies and mini-series to sitcoms, soap operas and dramas.
To date, Dolphin has financed over $500 million in productions and produced over 300 hours of original programming, which have been seen in over 100 countries worldwide.
Past television series credits for Mr. O’Dowd and Dolphin Entertainment include serving as Executive Producer of Nickelodeon’s worldwide top-rated series Zoey101 (Primetime Emmy-Award nominated) and Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide, as well as Nickelodeon’s first ever musical, Spectacular!, Additionally, Dolphin produced the one-hour teen drama series Tower Prep, which aired on Cartoon Network and What’s Up, Warthogs!, a half-hour tween sitcom airing on Family Channel Canada.
Beyond television, Dolphin Digital Media has been a pioneer in the digital entertainment space with best-in-class talent and content. Dolphin’s digital projects include Aim High, a teen series starring Jackson Rathbone (“Twilight”) and Aimee Teegarden (“Friday Night Lights”), which premiered on Facebook and AOL in October, 2011, as well as digital crime thriller, Cybergeddon, from CSI creator Anthony Zuiker, which premiered on Yahoo! in September, 2012. The success of these series led Dolphin Digital Media to be the most-nominated production studio for original, scripted online content at 2013’s Streamy Awards (the digital content industry’s highest honor).
Mr. O’Dowd also launched a feature films division, Dolphin Films, in 2013. This division produces family films for theatrical release. Dolphin Films’ first feature, Justin Bieber’s Believe, was distributed in partnership Open Road in the United States and with IM Global internationally. Dolphin Films will also partner with Open Road to release Max Steel, a superhero film based on the popular Mattel toy franchise.
Mr. O’Dowd graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, has received a master’s degree in Modern European History from Creighton University, and was named 1st-Team Academic All-American by USA Today while an undergraduate at Creighton.
