Jackie Shroff made his acting debut in Dev Anand's movie Swami Dada. In 1983, Subhash Ghai cast him in the lead role for the movie Hero, paired against Meenakshi Seshadri.  After Hero, he did several other films, such as Andar Baahar. Jaanoo and Yudh were successful. In 1986 he did Karma which became the highest-grossing film of 1986. His next film to be released was Kaash. Later films, such as Dahleez and Sachché Ká Bol-Bálá were critically acclaimed, but failed at the box office. But he came back to success through films such as Ram Lakhan, Tridev, and Parinda, which won him filmfare award for best actor. In the 90s he was part of successful films such as Saudagar, Angaar, Sapne Sajan Ke, Gardish, Khalnayak, 1942: A Love Story, Rangeela, Agnisakshi, Border, And Shapath. In 2006, Shroff acted in the children's film Bhoot Unkle.
In 2017, Shroff made his debut in Konkani, acting in the film Soul Curry, which even won him an award. Subsequently, he is to act in another Konkani film scheduled to release in 2019, titled Kantaar.
In October 2018, he acted in a short film, The Playboy Mr. Sawhney. He is also going to star in Prasthanam, which Hindi remake of Telugu film with same name alongside Ali Fazal and Sanjay Dutt.