Tresa Hughes was born in 1929 in Washington and spent her childhood in Baltimore. She pursued higher education at Maryland Art Institute, Johns Hopkins University, and George Washington University, ultimately graduating from Wayne State University.
Hughes' early career in acting saw her join the Hedgerow Theatre in Pennsylvania, led by Jasper Deeter, and the Playwrights Theater Company in Chicago, alongside Mike Nichols and Elaine May. She was a long-time resident of New York, where she lived for 55 years, and was an ardent advocate for the city.
Throughout her illustrious career, Hughes originated roles in over 50 plays on and Off Broadway, including Hogan's Goat, The Last Analysis, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, and The Man in the Glass Booth. Her impressive repertoire also included Broadway plays such as The Devil's Advocate, for which she received a Tony Award nomination for best supporting actress in 1961.
Hughes stood by for Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker and Golda, both written by William Gibson and directed by Arthur Penn. She frequently performed alongside Patty Duke and originated roles in workshops of new plays at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, directed by Lloyd Richards, with notable playwrights such as John Guare, Wole Soyinka, and Lanford Wilson.
As a young woman, Hughes often convincingly portrayed older characters, including her portrayal of Beatrice in the touring company of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge in 1957, which she reprised in a 1983 Broadway revival.
Hughes worked with renowned playwrights and directors, including John Arden, Saul Bellow, Eduardo Machado, Arthur Miller, John Osborne, Neil Simon, and Arnold Wesker, as well as Martin Charnin, James Hammerstein, Fred Rolfe, and Herman Shumlin.
In her personal life, Hughes was married to documentary filmmaker Robert Hughes, with whom she had a daughter, Rebecca Hughes, a science writer for Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, and a son, whose husband, Paul Rogat Loeb, is a writer. Their grandson, William Hughes Martin, graduated from Brown University.
