A regular performer at Shakespeare's Globe, his stage roles there include The Golden Ass (2001-2), Lucio in Measure for Measure (2003-4), Troilus and Cressida (2004-5), Autolychus in The Winter’s Tale (2004-5), Louis VI in In Extremis (2006-7), Henry VIII (2010), Cardinal Wolsey and Henry Barrow in Anne Boleyn (2010), Lavatch in All's Well That Ends Well (2011),[2] and Stanley/King Edward IV in Richard III (2012), which transferred to Broadway (2013).
[3][4] With the Royal Shakespeare Company he appeared as Lord Byron in Camino Real (1996), as Horatio in Hamlet (1998), Ulysses in Troilus and Cressida (1998) and Herr Schaaf in A Month in the Country (1999).
[5] With the National Theatre Hurley appeared as Henry Earl of Richmond/Lord Grey in Richard III (1990), as Gentleman in King Lear (1990), Remember This, Wild Oats (1995), The Oedipus Plays, Davison in Mary Stuart (1996), and The Good Person of Szechwan.
[5] His television appearances include David Copperfield in David Copperfield (1986), Prisoner 1 in The Storyteller (1988), Prisoner #1 in The Jim Henson Hour (1989), Ian Harper in Hero Hungry (1990), Ray Murray in The Chief (1994), Colin Hastings in The Bill (2000), Keith Jordan in Peak Practice (2000), Desk Sergeant in The Infinite Worlds of H. G. Wells (2001), and Glyn Hollis in Holby City (2003).
[6] Hurley also wrote the plays House and Shuffling Off which were performed at the New Grove Theatre and also has written two short films, Bruised Fruit and Billy Badmouth.