Born in the city of Araba, Palestine, Nasser grew up watching Egyptian films and Lebanese operettas . In 1975 received a scholarship from the Communist Party, and in 1981 graduated with a master's degree in directing at the Moscow Film Academy. Upon his return to Israel he founded a theater group in Araba and directed four plays. In 1983 he wrote and directed the documentary "Story of a Seaside City", a political film about the Ajami neighborhood, which was not distributed to the public. A similar fate also happened to his second film, "The Nurse" from 1994.

In 1997, his first feature film, "The Milky Way" was released. The film, which was financed by the "Fund for Encouraging Quality Israeli Films", was screened in Cinematheques for a long time, won the award for the best Israeli screenplay at the Jerusalem Film Festival in 1997, and participated in several international film festivals. His next feature, "In the Ninth Month" from 2002, was nominated for 7 Israeli Ophir Awards but did not win in any category. The jury offered Nassar the consolation prize, but he declined.