Born and bred in County Wicklow, Ireland, Nuala trained at Rose Bruford. Although based in London, she has returned to Ireland many times to tour with Galloglass Theatre Company in plays including The Big Sea by Colin Teevan, Broken Ground and The Good Woman of Setzuan. Other theatre credits include the one-woman show Turning On, written especially for Nuala by Clive King, and Mrs Grigson in Sean O'Casey's The Shadow of a Gunman. She appears as Meena McGlynn in the feature film Conspiracy of Silence and has also been seen in the cult comedy series Father Ted as Sister Mary Gondola and featured as Rose Gannon (sister to Joey Musgrove) in Brookside. She toured Scotland with Mull Theatre Company as Margrethe Bohr in Copenhagen and Mary Johnny Rafferty in A Skull in Connemara.