In 1989, Nugent scored the lead role as Tiger Gleeson in children's television series
Round the Twist. He also starred as C.W. in a 1990 episode of
More Winners, for which he was nominated at the age of 14, for the 1991
AFI Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama for the episode, "The Big Wish". He had further lead roles as Mick in the 1991 children's miniseries
Ratbag Hero, Craig Jelly in
SeaChange from 1998 to 2000, Max Hammer in
Noah and Saskia in 2004, and Paul Winston in
City Homicide from 2007 to 2010. He has had guest roles in
The Flying Doctors,
A Country Practice,
Neighbours,
Law of the Land,
State Coroner,
The Genie from Down Under 2,
Halifax f.p.,
Stingers,
Blue Heelers,
Rush and
Winners & Losers. Nugent has also had main roles in the comedy films
Boronia Boys (2011) and
Boronia Backpackers (2022). His other film credits include 1996 romantic comedy
Hotel de Love with
Aden Young and
Saffron Burrows, 1997 teen drama thriller
Blackrock alongside
Heath Ledger, 2007 drama
The Jammed and 2010 drama
Matching Jack opposite
Jacinta Barrett and
Yvonne Strahovski. At the age of 22, Nugent was studying his final year of law, with the aim of working in copywriting and publishing and to only continue acting as a hobby. His first feature was about animal cruelty in India,
ATAAC: A Documentary. He then wrote, produced and directed the short films
Smoking Will Kill You (selected for
Cannes Film Festival),
Magic and
Spider Walk, among others. starring
Jake Busey and
J. K. Simmons. It was nominated for Best Indie Film at the
10th AACTA Awards, as well as winning a slew of awards at overseas film festivals including the Prescott Film Festival,
Newport Beach Film Festival,
Boston Film Festival and the International Youth Film Festival. ==Personal life ==