Nivetha started her career as a child actress, acting in the popular Sun TV serial My Dear Bootham. After that, she played the role of Jayaram's daughter in Veruthe Oru Bharya, where her performance was well appreciated.[7] She then signed a few Tamil and Malayalam films in which she mostly played supporting roles. Among her Malayalam projects were Chaappa Kurish and Thattathin Marayathu, the latter of which according to Sify was going to be "the biggest box-office hit in the history of Malayalam cinema".[8] The 2011 Tamil film Poraali directed by Samuthirakani, featured her as Tamizhselvi, a petrol bunk employee.[9] She had previously collaborated with Samuthirakani in the drama series Arasi.
In 2013, Nivetha acted in Romans which was very successful and named a "blockbuster" by Sify.com.[10] In the Tamil contemporary fantasy comedy Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham she played the female lead role of Jaishree, an aspiring singer.[11] In Jilla she played the role of Mahalakshmi, who is very attached to her father (Mohanlal) and two brothers, played by Vijay and Mahath.[12] About her role, she stated that it was not "just another sister role"[13] but that of "a strong willed girl who influences her brother in a positive way".[11] She signed her first Telugu film, Juliet Lover of Idiot directed by Ajay Vodhirala.[14][15] She acted as Kamal Haasan's eldest daughter in the Tamil remake of Drishyam, titled Papanasam, and her performance earned praise from viewers.[16]
Her first release in 2017 was another Telugu film, opposite Nani again, the romantic entertainer Ninnu Kori which opened to positive reviews and highly praised her performance as "pallavi" which eventually landed her second Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu Nomination at 65th Filmfare Awards South.[18] Her next release was Jai Lava Kusa opposite Jr. NTR was one of the top-grossing movies in 2017 at boxoffice. Her last release was Juliet Lover of Idiot opposite Naveen Chandra which was delayed and released later to become a commercial failure at the box office. In October 2018, Thomas signed romantic drama Swaasa, co-starring Nikhil Siddharth.[19]
Nivetha first release in 2019 was an action thriller 118 opposite Nandamuri Kalyan Ram which opened to positive reviews and critics extremely praised Thomas's outstanding performance in a brief yet impressive role.[20] Later, she starred in the black comedy film Brochevarevarura opposite Sree Vishnu was opened to positive reviews and got widespread acclaim for her portrayal of "mitra" an underperformer student in academics who aspires to become a classical dancer, Later the film was a hit at box office.
^Certain award groups do not simply award one winner. They acknowledge several different recipients, have runners-up, and have third place. Since this is a specific recognition and is different from losing an award, runner-up mentions are considered wins in this award tally. For simplification and to avoid errors, each award in this list has been presumed to have had a prior nomination.
