Tom Böttcher grew up in Hamburg and graduated from high school there in 2013. He gained his first acting experience in the "Backstage - Youth Club" at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. There he was also discovered by an acting agent in 2012 and thus got his first supporting role in the episode Dangerous Game of the ZDF crime series Stubbe - From Case to Case as the oddball Mirco.

Roles in short films and television productions followed. In October 2014 he began his acting studies at the Film University Potsdam "Konrad Wolf". During his studies he was always in front of the camera, for example in 2015 in the ARD television series Die Eifelpraxis in the leading role of Paul Mundt. He has appeared in episodic roles in various television series.

In October 2022, Böttcher went viral on the video portal TikTok with real-life puppetry videos based on the Augsburger Puppenkiste model and has since been active on various platforms as a producer of short web videos. In April 2023, Böttcher won the "Golden Blogger" social media prize in the "Newcomer" category for his work.

Tom Böttcher lives in Hamburg.