[1] She began her film career in 1968, shortly after divorcing her first husband, working in comedies; she had found few opportunities in theatre, complaining that older actresses were able to play young characters for more than fifty years.

The series had a nude scene, the first in Dutch television,[a] which showed Touw bathing while betel spit ("blood" in other sources) spontaneously appears on her body.

[5][6] The scene remained controversial afterwards, and although Touw gained popular recognition she was passed over for later roles; she later commented that, had she been in the United States, producers would have said "grab that girl, she will be good for the box office"[b] and hire her.

She attempted to adapt Howard Ashman's 1982 play Little Shop of Horrors and produced a Dutch version of Edward Albee's 1962 work Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.

[1] Touw had a small role in the 2008 film Bride Flight,[3] and in 2012 she starred in the medical drama Doctor Deen, playing the mentally unstable mother of Monique van de Ven's character.