[2] In senior high he was active with the school's theatre troupe, and after graduating in 1985 Tio enrolled in the Jakarta Art Institute.
On the side he worked as a model, and in 1987 he made his feature film debut playing opposite Rano Karno in Bilur-Bilur Penyesalan (Stripes of Regret), an adaptation of the novel by Mira W.[3][4] In 1988 Tio took four roles,[5] including one in Catatan Si Boy II (Boy's Diary II), which gave him national recognition.
[2] During the early 1990s the domestic film industry faced a steep decline, and Tio began to focus on soap operas.
[5] In 2010 Tio was granted the title Kanjeng Raden Tumenggung from the royal court at Sultanate of Yogyakarta;[2] from which he is descended.
That year he also established an acting school in Kemang, South Jakarta, because he considered the quality of most new Indonesian actors and actresses to be poor.
[7] After three years of hiatus, Tio returned to the big screen in 2016, taking the leading role of an Indonesian political exile in the film Letters from Prague.
They are Bibir Mer, Berbagi Suami, Alangkah Lucunya (Negeri Ini), Sang Penari, and Letters from Prague.