[4] In 2001, he made a rare venture into television advertising with his appearances in a series of commercials for Club Orange, a soft drink.
On stage, Hickey favoured parts in the work of modern Irish playwrights such as Tom Murphy, Frank McGuinness, Bernard Farrell, and Marina Carr.
In the early 1980s, the playwright Tom MacIntyre asked him to play the lead role in his adaptation of Patrick Kavanagh's poem The Great Hunger.
Following the success of that collaboration, he has become an acclaimed interpreter of MacIntyre's work, in such plays as Rise Up Lovely Sweeney, The Gallant John Joe and What Happened Bridgie Cleary.
[7] As a character actor, Hickey appeared in numerous films, including My Left Foot, Fools of Fortune, Gothic,[8] Inside I'm Dancing, Stella Days, Breakfast on Pluto, and Possession.