Brian Dooley was born in Sherbrooke Quebec. He graduated from Bishop's University with a B.A Honours in 1977, and trained in theatre at the National Theatre School of Canada. For over thirty years he has worked in diverse roles across the country and abroad. For L'UniThéâtre in April 2016, he acted in both French and English as an elderly plumber who pursues the recently widowed love of his life in The Passion of Narcisse Mondoux by Gratien Gélinas. Later in the same month, he convincingly played an irredeemably drunken father in Theatre Network's production of Gordon by Morris Panych. Dooley succeeded Daniel Cournoyer as Artistic Director of L'UniThéâtre in 2012. He is also the director of play development at the Citadel Theatre as well as an employee in film as a producer and director with Great North Productions and Alliance Atlantis. Dooley also teaches at the National Theatre School of Canada.

Among his many credits were the long running series The Things We Do For Love and Who’s On Top both of which he created for LIFE Network , The $100 Taxi Ride, for National Geographic, The Canadians for HISTORY Television and the dramatic television series Jake and the Kid for Global. Other broadcasters Brian has worked with include: Discovery Canada, Discovery Health, Food Network, BBC, National Geographic, TLC, S4C, CBC, Global and CTV.

Before embarking on a career as a producer Brian was involved primarily as an actor, director and dramaturge in both television and theatre. As an actor he appeared in principal roles in many productions over the years. His efforts were rewarded by a Gemini nomination (Best Supporting Actor) for the internationally acclaimed drama, The Boys of St. Vincent. He has received a Dora Mavor Moore nomination along with a Betty Mitchell award nomination as well as a Sterling Award nomination for Outstanding Performance in The December Man. He received Betty Mitchell Award nominations for his performances in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and The December Man at Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary and has been honoured with two AMPIA (Alberta Motion Picture Industry Awards) awards , one for best performer and another for best production under 60 minutes, both celebrating work on a drama pilot for CBC entitled The Beat.