Born in Bedford Hills, New York, Knowles began training as an actor with the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, as part of its Advanced Teen Conservatory. He graduated with a B.A. in History and Italian from Yale University, where he produced the first English rendering of Niccolò Machiavelli's play Andria in 2012. Knowles is of Italian descent. Knowles was raised in the Catholic faith by his family, but had fallen away during his adolescence; while at Yale he experienced a reversion to the Church, spurred at first by ontological arguments.
In 2016, Knowles was invited to join The Daily Wire, beginning as regular guest and cultural correspondent for The Andrew Klavan Show podcast. Knowles previously worked with Andrew Klavan's son, Spencer, on theater productions while they were undergraduates at Yale. In 2017, Knowles released an empty book called Reasons to Vote for Democrats: A Comprehensive Guide. The book, which contained 266 empty pages and an extensive bibliography, became the number 1 best-selling book on Amazon. Shortly after Knowles lauded President Donald Trump on Fox & Friends, Trump in return praised Knowles' book as "a great book for your reading enjoyment." That year, Knowles began his role as host of The Daily Wires third podcast, The Michael Knowles Show. In January 2020, while the impeachment proceedings of President Donald Trump were underway, Knowles and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, launched a podcast titled Verdict with Ted Cruz. On January 27, Cruz announced via Twitter that Verdict had secured the number one spot on the podcast charts for that week.
Controversies
In April 2019, Knowles gave a speech at the University of Missouri–Kansas City entitled "Men Are Not Women" on gender identity during his YAF national college speaking tour. Student protesters disrupted his talk, deeming it transphobic. One protester, Gerard Dabu, assaulted him and sprayed him with an unknown mixture, later determined to be lavender oil and other non-toxic household liquids. Dabu was charged with assault and other violations. In September 2019, Knowles called teenage climate activistGreta Thunberg "a mentally ill Swedish child" on the Fox News program The Story. Fellow segment guest and Democratic Party activist Christopher Hahn replied, "You're a grown man and you're attacking a child. Shame on you." Knowles responded, saying, "I'm not. I'm attacking the Left for exploiting a mentally ill child." Hahn returned, "Relax skinny boy, I got this." Knowles promptly added, "She is mentally ill. She has autism. She has obsessive–compulsive disorder. She has selective mutism. She had depression." The network apologized for Knowles' statement by saying his comment "was disgraceful — we apologize to Greta Thunberg and to our viewers." Knowles did not apologize and Fox said they have "no plans" to have him on again in the future.
