[2] Ryō graduated from Seijo University and made his cinema debut in the 1966 Hiroshi Inagaki film Abare Goemon starring Toshirō Mifune.
[3][4] He also appeared in the 1989 Hiroshi Teshigahara film Rikyū with Rentarō Mikuni in the title role.
A repeating modern role has been Detective Sōsuke Kariya in two-hour dramas costarring Miki Fujitani.
Tamura played Tōdō Takatora in the 2000 NHK taiga drama Aoi Tokugawa Sandai.
The network also tapped him for the 2004 miniseries Saigo no Chūshingura in which he portrayed Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu.