Dominic Joseph Bowden (born 15 December 1977) is a New Zealand television personality, host and voice actor. He is best known as the host of New Zealand reality series including ''

New Zealand Idol ''New Zealand Idol'', also known as ''NZ Idol'', was the New Zealand version of the ''Idol'' series which originated in the United Kingdom as '' Pop Idol''. New Zealand first saw the ''Idol'' format when TV2 aired '' American Idol 2'', which gar ...

, Dancing with the Stars New Zealand and The X Factor New Zealand''. When based in Los Angeles, he hosted the American reality music competition show, ''

The Next Great American Band ''The Next Great American Band'' is a reality television talent show. The show premiered on October 19, 2007 and aired on Fox at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times Friday nights. The show was taped at CBS Television City in Los Angeles on Wednesd ...

'' and as a Hollywood reporter for the Erin Simpson show. Bowden has been called "New Zealand's

Ryan Seacrest Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American television presenter and producer. Seacrest is the host of '' Wheel of Fortune'', having hosted since replacing long-time host Pat Sajak in September 2024. Seacrest co-hosted and ser ...

Early life

Bowden was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand, where he attended Sacred Heart College. His parents are a surveyor and a business manager. Bowden is a graduate of the

Auckland University of Technology Auckland University of Technology ( AUT; ) is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college (originally established in 1895) was granted university status. AUT is New Zealand's third largest university i ...

, with a Bachelor of Communication Studies, majoring in Television which he achieved in 2000.

Career

After graduating from

AUT AUT may refer to the following. Locations *Austria (ISO 3166-1 country code) *Agongointo-Zoungoudo Underground Town, Benin * Aktio–Preveza Undersea Tunnel, Greece *Airstrip on Atauro Island, East Timor (IATA airport code) Organizations *Arri ...

, Bowden began hosting the popular Saturday morning Children's television programme, '' Squirt'' for

TVNZ Television New Zealand (, "Te Reo Tātaki" meaning "The Leading Voice"), more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a New Zealand state-owned media company and Crown entity. The company operates a television network, streaming service, and news se ...

. Bowden then moved into live television on the weekly late-night music show Space. He also traveled the country with British popstar,

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...

for a television special, ''Robbie Williams: Be Here Now''. Bowden, then moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and into radio, working as a roving nightly reporter for

Austereo Austereo was an Australian mass media company based in Melbourne. It was founded in 1980 by Paul Thompson, and operated 16 radio stations in metropolitan and regional Australia under the Today Network and Triple M brands. In 2011, the company ...

, on

2Day FM 2Day FM (call sign 2DAY) is a commercial FM radio station broadcasting in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on a frequency of 104.1 MHz, and is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Hit Network. History 1980s 2Day FM was one of three radio st ...

. Then in 2004, it was announced Bowden would return to New Zealand as the sole host of ''

'' for

. The ''Idol'' series one grand final was watched by a quarter of the country's population. During this time, for six months Bowden hosted his own nightly radio show for

MediaWorks Radio MediaWorks New Zealand is a New Zealand-based company specialising in radio, outdoor advertising and interactive media. It is owned by Australian out-of-home advertising company QMS. It operates eight national radio brands, eleven websites and ...

More FM More FM is a New Zealand radio network that plays hot adult contemporary music. It is operated by MediaWorks New Zealand. More FM broadcasts in 25 centres throughout New Zealand on 81 transmitters with a mix of local and network programming. ...

, called Most Wanted. He also appeared as a contestant on Celebrity Treasure Island: Series 1 and Shock Treatment. As well as hosting the successful game-shows, '' Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader'' and ''Dare to Win'', which had a similar format to ''

Minute to Win It ''Minute to Win It'' is an international game show franchise where contestants take part in a series of 60-second challenges that use objects that are commonly available around the house. The first version of ''Minute to Win It'' to air was t ...

''. Bowden has worked as a reporter for the magazine news show ''

20/20 (US television series) ''20/20'' (stylized as ''2020'') is an American television newsmagazine that has been broadcast on ABC since June 6, 1978. Created by ABC News executive Roone Arledge, the program was designed similarly to CBS's ''60 Minutes'' in that it featur ...

'', traveling to Los Angeles to interview

for a television special in New Zealand. Shortly after, Bowden signed with Seacrest's then agent

William Morris Endeavor Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. (formerly William Morris Endeavor and WME-IMG) is an American holding company for talent and media agencies with its primary offices in Beverly Hills, California. The company was founded in April 2009 after the me ...

and moving to Los Angeles. He was selected by ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'' executive producers

Nigel Lythgoe Nigel Lythgoe OBE (; born 9 July 1949) is an English television and film director and producer, television dance competition judge, former dancer in the Young Generation and choreographer. He was the producer of the shows ''Pop Idol'' and ''Ame ...

and

Ken Warwick Ken Warwick is a British television executive producer and director, most noted for producing the reality television series ''American Idol'', and '' Pop Idol''. Before being a producer he was a dancer/choreographer, previously being a member of B ...

to host "

", which was cancelled after one season. In 2014, Bowden co-hosted the all access show with Lacey Schwimmer for Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 19). Bowden was the sole host of the

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

series of the New Zealand version of ''

X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

''. He was also the host of the revived sixth season of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

'' in New Zealand, alongside

Sharyn Casey Sharyn Mary-Ellen Casey (''née'' Wakefield; born 24 December 1985) is a radio and TV host. She has hosted The Edge's drive show, the New Zealand version of ''Dancing with the Stars'', and was a celebrity panelist on '' The Masked Singer NZ''. ...

. Both of these shows aired on

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

. Bowden was the host of The Hype on the

E! Network E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable television network. It is owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The channel focuses primarily on pop culture, celebrity based reality shows and movies. ...

in Australia and New Zealand, alongside Ksenija Lukich. The show first aired October 2015, but is no longer screening on E!.

Other work

Bowden has co-hosted the televised Qantas Television Awards,

New Zealand Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...

, Girlfriend Model Search, NZ Color Trophy Awards and the Christmas at St Matthews Music Special. He has also been enlisted as a weekly columnist for the ''

New Zealand Woman's Weekly The ''New Zealand Woman's Weekly'' is a weekly New Zealand women's magazine published by Are Media. , it had a circulation of 82,040, third by paid sales after ''TV Guide'' and Are Media's ''New Zealand Woman's Day''. History On 8 December 1932 ...

'', ''New Idea'' and ''The TV Guide''. He appeared on ''

Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand Prime time, prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital. The show was first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992 and is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, be ...

''s 15th anniversary show. He has done voice over work for Bond and Bond and

Burger King Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...

, as well as appearing in numerous TV commercials, as well as narrator for season 2 of '' IRT World Deadliest Roads''. As an actor, Bowden appeared in the independent feature '' The Devil Dared Me To''. The film had its world premiere at Austin's ''

South by Southwest Festival South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

'' and received a standing ovation. In addition to his film role, he had small roles on the television series '' Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'', '' Xena: Warrior Princess'' and ''

''. He also played himself on ''

Go Girls Go, GO, G.O., or Go! may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games and sport * Go (game), a board game for two players * '' Travel Go'' (formerly ''Go – The International Travel Game''), a game based on world travel * Go, the starting position ...

''. He also interviewed stars for between-movie fillers on Sky Television.

Personal life

Bowden married

reporter Claire Robbie in 2008. The couple separated and divorced in 2012. During the filming of Bachelor New Zealand, it was revealed that Bowden had briefly dated one of the contestants. Bowden's family are

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, and he attends mass when he is in New Zealand.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Dominic Bowden profile at Karen Kay Management
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowden, Dominic Joseph 1977 births Auckland University of Technology alumni New Zealand Idol Living people New Zealand television personalities