Hurley received starred reviews from the literary publications Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, VOYA and School Library Journal for her debut novel, ghostgirl which is based on a character that she began developing via her Webby Award-nominated website ghostgirl.com. The book was released in August 2008 by Little, Brown and Company and was an instant New York Times best-seller, hitting the list in September 2008. The follow-up, ghostgirl: Homecoming will be released July 1, 2009.

In addition to writing books, she has been nominated for the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation Award in film and has also made the semi-finals of the Sundance Institute's Writer's Lab for her feature film script, "Good Mourning." In addition, she has written and directed five critically acclaimed animated and live-action docu-shorts -- Kiss My Brain, The Biblical Real World, Solo-Me, Baptism of Solitude: A Tribute to Paul Bowles and best friEND. These award-winning films have been screened to enthusiastic audiences around the world at such festivals and venues as The TriBeCa Film Festival, The Edinburgh Film Festival, The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, Institute for Contemporary Arts in London, Poetry Festival DVD -- which is currently being distributed world-wide by the United Nations, The Budapest Film Festival and the Anthology Film Archives in New York City. Several of her shorts have been broadcast on such outlets as PBS, IFC - Independent Film Channel, amazon.com, CBS Jumbotron in Times Square and AOL moviefone.com.

Beyond her work as an indie filmmaker, Hurley is the co-creator and co-producer of the ABC Family sitcom So Little Time, featuring superstars Mary-Kate And Ashley Olsen. She is also co-producer and a co-writer of In Action!, a hit animated series which aired on Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC during the 2000 -2001 season. She has also written for episodic children's television including the popular PBS series Big, Big World. Hurley has written and directed television commercials for PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance and Warner Home Video. She was the primary provider of original content for the mary-kateandashley.com website, one of the most highly trafficked destinations for kids and tweens ever. In addition, she is the creator and co-executive producer the of mary-kateandashley brand video games, which were the number one video games for girls throughout their production in the late 1990s. She has also created two board games and developed dolls for Mattel.

Hurley began her career after earning a degree in Writing from the University of Pittsburgh, where she was an active member of the Pittsburgh Filmmakers - shooting several experimental films on Super 8. She then moved to NYC and became a publicist for such artists as John Lydon, Paul Westerberg, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Erasure, Prince, Morrissey, George Michael, John Cale and Bush.