Mike Rowe

Creator and Host of Dirty Jobs
CEO of mikeroweWORKS

Mike Rowe has had more jobs than you. In fact, he has had more jobs than anyone. As the creator and executive producer of Discovery Channel’s Emmy-nominated series "Dirty Jobs," Rowe has spent years traveling the country, working as an apprentice on over 300 jobs that most people would go out of their way to avoid. From coal miners to roustabouts, maggot farmers to sheep castrators, he has worked in just about every industry and shot every state, celebrating those hard-working Americans who make civilized life possible for the rest of us.

No one is better suited to the role of good-natured guinea pig than Rowe – mainly, because it’s not a role. "Dirty Jobs" is entirely unscripted, and Rowe doesn’t cheat – he actually does the work with a sense of humor rarely portrayed in such professions. In fact, the notion of depicting hard work as noble and fun is central to his personal mission. On Labor Day of 2008, Rowe launched a website called mikeroweWORKS.com where skilled labor and hard work are celebrated in the hope of calling attention to the steady decline in the trades and bolster enrollments in trade schools and technical colleges.

In addition to "Dirty Jobs" and his mikeroweWORKS endeavor, Rowe is the voice of "Deadliest Catch" and ABC World News With Diane Sawyer". He is also the national spokesman for Ford and has traveled extensively for The Discovery Channel.

Rowe has partnerships with Caterpillar, Kimberly-Clark, Master Lock and Cat Footwear and helped launch the “I Make America” with CAT and AEM in September of 2010.  He also helped launch the highly successful “Go Build Alabama” campaign promoting job opportunities in the skilled trades for the state of Alabama.

Before Dirty Jobs, Rowe's resume was no less eclectic. Without any formal training, he began his career as a professional musician faking his way into The Baltimore Opera, and earning his union card in the process. Soon thereafter, he crashed an audition for The QVC Cable Shopping Channel, where he was immediately hired to sell dubious merchandise in the middle of the night. There, he impersonated a host for nearly three years, spending most of his tenure on double-secret probation, while learning the ins and outs of live television. After that, he worked when he felt like it, narrating, writing, acting and hosting programs like "Worst Case Scenario" for TBS, "On-Air TV" for American Airlines, "The Most" for History Channel, "No Relation" for Fox, and "New York Expeditions" for PBS.