Hughes received her first award in 2003, the Los Angeles Ovation Award. Just a year later, in 2004 she received the Garland and Drama Critics Circle Awards. Hughes also received a nomination for Distinguished Performance from the Drama League Award for her acting in her solo play, Belfast Blues, in 2004.
When Hughes was just 14, American TV producers auditioned hundreds of children in Ireland for their film and of the hundreds, three were chosen to participate in the film, Hughes being one of them. This first film debut of hers was in the movie, Children of the Crossfire in the year 1984. Later, during her first years in Los Angeles, Hughes became a part-time nanny Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman's children.
Hughes received her first award in 2003, the Los Angeles Ovation Award. Just a year later, in 2004 she received the Garland and Drama Critics Circle Awards. Hughes also received a nomination for Distinguished Performance from the Drama League Award for her acting in her solo play, Belfast Blues, in 2004.
In Belfast, Hughes attended St. Louise Comprehensive School in the '80s. Later, she attended the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) with a private scholarship from those she worked with in the film Children of the Crossfire. While they paid her tuition, she paid her living expenses. Hughes graduated from the university with a BA from the School of Theater, Film and TV. And in 2009, Queens University in Belfast awarded Hughes an honorary doctorate for her contributions to the performing arts.
