Hughes started his acting career in a public service announcement when he was 22 months old, and followed that up by appearing in his first feature film five months later. From his years as a child actor, Hughes was consistently one of the busiest young actors in Hollywood. Hughes is best known for his film roles as Gage Creed in Pet Sematary (1989), as an autistic boy opposite Bruce Willis in Mercury Rising (1998) and as Dylan Porter opposite Heather Langenkamp in Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994).
Hughes also played Aaron Bailey on Full House from 1990 to 1995. One of his first films was Jack the Bear, opposite Danny DeVito; in addition, he has starred on film in Spawn (1997), Zeus and Roxanne (1997), Apollo 13 (1995), Kindergarten Cop (1990), "Mercury Rising" (1998) alongside Bruce Willis and Pet Sematary (1989). Hughes has also appeared in numerous television movies. He has been a series regular, recurring character or guest star on many television series including Baywatch (1989), Full House (1992), Touched by an Angel (1994) and The Nanny (1993).
Hughes received an Emmy Award certificate for his participation as the voice of "Tommy" in the number one-rated Fox animated TV series Life with Louie (1995). His other voice-over credits include the voice of "Sly" and "Witt," twin babies in the feature film Baby Geniuses (1999). His latest project is the film Surf School. Hughes recently appeared in a commercial for the video game "Jaks." After a break in his career he re-emerged as a teen in the science fiction hit Roswell. Hughes played a lovable villain who was part of a renegade group of aliens.