Tom Dougherty has captivated audiences in theaters and circus rings all across the world for decades. He has been the lead clown with Ringling Bros., has headlined the Big Apple Circus, toured with Cirque du Soleil and was artistic director of Circus Chimera. His solo stage show took him to such venues as the National Theater and Wolf Trap in Washington DC, and Lincoln Center in New York as well as schools, festivals, arenas, hospitals, correctional facilities and theaters throughout the world. His passion for performance began at the renowned Neighborhood Playhouse where he studied acting under Sanford Meisner. He founded a theater company, Theatricks, was on the staff of the famed Ringling Bros. Clown College, the Baltimore School for the Arts as well as guest instructor at colleges and schools throughout North America and Europe, and founded Way of the Clown, a social circus intended to bring smiles where they are in especially short supply in the far corners of the world.