Julie-Anne McDowell hails from Belfast and has been involved in the creative arts for as far back as she can remember. She trained with RADA both in classical ballet and speech and drama and then went onto perform in numerous musical and repertory theatre productions around Northern Ireland.
Fluent in French and Spanish, Julie-Anne has a Joint Hons degree in languages, an International Marketing Diploma, and is currently studying for a Masters in Script and Screenwriting at Falmouth University. The Hive is her second short film script.
An award-winning actress, her favourite roles include Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, Model in Beauty (NI Best Supporting Actress Award), Julia in Me and My Best Friend (NI Best Actress Award), Catherine in The Memory Of Water, and as part of her degree at Manchester University she performed the role of Elvire in Don Juan in French.
In 2006 she moved to Johannesburg to marry her now-husband and returned to acting in 2017 in Couplet. In 2018/19 she appeared as Marilyn in The Revlon Girl which earned her a Naledi Best Supporting Actress Nomination.
In 2020, she set up How Now Brown Cow Productions, initially to create work for herself but having emerged from the lockdown incubator with a more holistic goal of keeping South African theatre alive and kicking.