He played Sean Matthews on the Disney Channel musical series The Lodge, Harry Hook in the Descendants film franchise, Max Wolfe in the HBO Max reboot of Gossip Girl, and Walter De Ville in the film The Invitation.

[4] After high school, Doherty entered The MGA Academy of Performing Arts in Edinburgh, where he studied musical theatre.

[4] On his days off, Doherty split his time between auditioning for Disney Channel's The Lodge and working with the Edinburgh Fringe.

[9][10] He stated that he was able to play the character as a Scot, but he toned down his accent in order to better accommodate the viewers in all 108 countries that The Lodge aired in.

[19] Doherty credits his experience in Gossip Girl as "educational" as it "challenged [his] own preconceived notions and indoctrination of 'this is who you love, this is what you do, everything else is wrong.'"