Tom Felton began acting in commercials by winning a role in a coveted advertising campaign; he won the role over 400 young actors. Another commercial role brought Felton to New York City's Times Square to shoot a production for Commercial Union. Later Felton did a series for Barclaycard. In 1995, he performed the voice of James in the television series Bugs and landed his first feature film role in 1997, when he played the part of Peagreen Clock in Peter Hewitt's film The Borrowers. Felton played witness Thomas Ingham opposite Clive Owen in Second Sight in 1999. Felton's role of Louis T. Leonowens in the film Anna and the King, starring Jodie Foster, was also filmed in 1999. Felton made an appearance in the episode "Hide and Seek" of Second Sight 2 followed in 2000. The Guildford Cathedral Choir also offered him a position.

By autumn in 2001, he had become known internationally for his portrayal of Draco Malfoy, the bully, enemy, and foil of Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Felton has appeared in all of the Harry Potter films. Before landing the part of Malfoy, Felton had auditioned to play Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Of the four young actors who succeeded in getting the main roles, Felton had the most extensive film experience. Thereafter, Felton's schedule began to fill with the work of filming the movies, premieres, contributing to articles and interviews, and receiving the Disney Channel's Kids Awards for Best DVD Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on 22 September 2003. Felton started his Official Tom Felton Fan Club in 2004 and took part in autograph signing events. His fan club was reported to have attracted so many fans that Felton had to put a temporary stop to people signing up to his fan club. The autographing session in Germany drew people from Chile and one fan in Cologne summarized: "Tom is a real nice, professional young man, always happy, smiling, laughing, full of power—a real gentleman." When the fan asked Felton what kids should do if someone like his character is bullying them, he said: "Tell someone. You don't want to keep it to yourself."

After filming the fourth Harry Potter film, Felton made a guest appearance on Home Farm Twins in 2005, where he played Adam Baker in the short-lived series. Felton most recently appeared in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth film of the series. When asked whether he was looking forward to playing a good guy in the future he answered: "No. Well, I don't know. I suppose for now I'm happy with sticking to what he is. But after the Potter legacy is over I look forward to playing a good guy or someone different anyway, someone not so spiteful." Felton also played the character Simon in the 2008 horror/thriller movie The Disappeared.

Felton posted three music videos on YouTube under an account called Feltbeats, in which he performs fragments of original songs. Nine songs have been re-recorded and are now available on iTunes: "Time Well Spent," "Time Isn't Healing," "One of These Days," "Under Stars," "Right Place, Right Time," "In My Arms," "All I Need," and "I'll Be There" join the instrumental "Silhouettes in Sunsets." The songs were welcomed by the YouTube community with mostly positive feedback.