[11] Tovino Thomas made his acting debut in Prabhuvinte Makkal (2012) directed by Sajeev Anthikkad.

In 2015, he portrayed the role of Perumparambil Appu in the film Ennu Ninte Moideen which was widely appreciated and received critical acclaim for his performance.

[13] He played the role of Engineer Thejus Varky in Guppy (2016) which was well received by audiences upon the DVD and digital release.

[18] His major Malayalam releases for the year includes Theevandi, Ente Ummante Peru, and Oru Kuprasidha Payyan.

In 2020, he played the lead role in the crime thriller Forensic with Mamta Mohandas, which received a good response from the audience and was a major box office success.

[22] He starred as the titular character in Minnal Murali, which is the first Malayalam superhero action film, released by Netflix on 24 December.

In 2023 he starred in Neelavelicham, in which he portrayed the role of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer and in 2018 which collected 176 crore and became the Highest grossing Malayalam film ever.

[26] He stood at the 21st place on Forbes India's most influential stars on Instagram in South cinema for the year 2021.

[67][68] In 2021, Tovino is announced as the ambassador of the Samoohika Sannadhasena,[69] the community volunteer program launched by the Government of Kerala.

Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala appreciated Tovino's involvement in flood relief activities and noted that his presence will influence the youth to join in the community volunteer program.

[71] After Mammootty and Mohanlal, Tovino became the third Malayalam film actor to receive the Golden Visa issued by the United Arab Emirates.