Dowling's first produced movie was Flightplan starring Jodie Foster which was the number one box office hit in the U.S. and grossed over $223,000,000 worldwide.
He has followed this with significant roles in the Paul Verhoeven directed Dutch movie Black Book and the big budget United States movies Flightplan, Valkyrie (in which he portrayed Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim) and the Academy Award-nominated Inglourious Basterds.
He has also appeared in Flightplan, Flags of Our Fathers, Freedom Writers, Then She Found Me, the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Bet and Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows.