Robert Hughes grew up in the Sydney suburb of Crows Nest and did a journalism cadetship and studied at the Max Rowley Media Academy. He then started his professional career as a copy boy for a Sydney newspaper before moving into the Australian entertainment industry with a band known as the Flying Circus. This was short lived, and he began working in the theatre as an actor, in such Sydney productions as Errol Flynn's Great Big Adventure Book For Boys and Macbeth. He appeared in many guest roles in Australian television shows, as well as his own starring role in the Seven Network comedy series Hey Dad..! (1987).