Tuvok taught at the Starfleet Academy for 16 years. He was married in 2304 to T'Pel. Tuvok and T'Pel had four children, three sons and a daughter. At home on Vulcan, Tuvok was proficient at playing his Vulcan lute, a stringed musical instrument. He was skilled at horticulture, known for breeding prize Vulcan orchids.

Tuvok entered Starfleet Academy in 2289 at his parents' insistence. In 2293, he was assigned to the U.S.S. Excelsior as a junior science officer under the command of Captain Hikaru Sulu. tuvok did not realize it at the time, but he became infected with a parasitic memory virus from fellow crew member Dmitri Valtane. tuvok found it difficult to accept the multicultural environment of Starfleet, preferring the controlled discipline of his own Vulcan people. Tuvok even spoke out against Captain Spock's visionary proposal of an alliance between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Tuvok resigned from Starfleet shortly thereafter and returned to his homeworld to undergo the Kolinahr discipline. His studies were interrupted in 2304 when he underwent Pon Farr and married T'Pel. After raising a family of his own, Tuvok appreciated his parents' motives for sending him to Starfleet. After a 51-year absence, Tuvok returned to Starfleet in 2349 and was assigned to the U.S.S. Wyoming.

Tuvok was once stationed at the Jupiter Station some time prior to 2371. While there, he kept in contact with Kathryn Janeway by written letters. Tuvok taught archery science for several years at the Vulcan Institute of Defensive Arts.

In 2371, Tuvok went undercover and infiltrated the Maquis, ending up on Chakotay's ship. The Maquis ship and later the Voyager were abruptly transported to the Delta Quadrant, and Tuvok returned to his regular Starfleet duties. Tuvok, who had been Kathryn Janeway's tactical officer for many years, would ordinarily have been assigned to replace Voyager's first officer, who died in the first encounter with the Caretaker. Janeway nevertheless elected to appoint Chakotay to that position in the interest of building trust with the new Maquis members of her crew.

In 2371, a member of the Komar species took control of Tuvok in an attempt to lead Voyager into a dark-matter nebula so that the Komar could extract the crew's neural energy. The attempt was not successful, and the alien left Tuvok's body. In 2372, Tuvok performed a Vulcan mind-meld with confessed murderer Lon Suder. The meld caused a neurochemical imbalance in Tuvok's brain, leading to a temporary, violent loss of emotional self-control. In 2372, Tuvok and Neelix were involved in a transporter accident that merged them at the molecular level, forming a new living being who adopted the name Tuvix. Tuvok did not exist during the two weeks that Tuvix lived.

On stardate 50126, Tuvok asked Captain Janeway to act as a guide in a mind-meld following a hallucination attack triggered by the image of a nebula on the viewscreen. Following several mind-melds during which Tuvok would have the hallucinations, Janeway was able to help the doctor trace the cause to a virus Tuvok had contracted during his tour of duty aboard the U.S.S. Excelsior.

On stardate 51186, Tuvok was promoted to Lieutenant Commander by Captain Janeway.