Yamada's performance in the "Miracles of the Namiya General Store" received generally positive reviews. His co-star Nishida Toshiyuki praised Yamada's performance and said he is the Japanese version of James Dean and wrote a special letter for Yamada appreciating his acting. The movie was nominated for 6 different categories at the 41st Japan Academy Award, including best picture and best Director.

Both Namiya and Fullmetal Alchemist debuted at number 1 in Japan Box Office for its opening weekend. Yamada's performance as Atsuya in Namiya and Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist earn him the Newcomer Actor Award at the 91st Kinema Junpo Award, making him the second Johnny's talent to achieve this award after Ikuta Toma.

On June 14, he played the main role in Furuhata Chuugakusei, the sequel to Furuhata Ninzaburo, a Japanese drama series aired since 1994.

He began working as a backup Dancer for Tackey & Tsubasa, NEWS, Kanjani8, and KAT-TUN and appeared regularly on The Shounen Club from autumn 2004.

It was later revealed that Shin Kibayashi, Writer of the Kindaichi series and Tantei Gakuen Q had envisioned creating a new Kindaichi series with Yamada as Hajime Kindaichi for almost five years. They met on set while filming Tantei Gakuen Q in 2006 and 2007. After filming the show, Kibayashi asked Yamada in person if he could play the role of Kindaichi in the Future, for Yamada was only 14 years old at the time, too young to play the role of a high school student.

In September 2007, Hey! Say! 7 expanded. Johnny & Associates announced that the new group, Hey! Say! JUMP, would be launched. Yamada was selected as one of the ten (now nine) members. He debuted on November 14, 2007 with a number one single "Ultra Music Power".

From October to December 2008, he played the main role, Toichi Takasugi, in a three-month long television drama series, Scrap Teacher, along with Daiki Arioka, Yuto Nakajima and Yuri Chinen.

On October 3, 2009, he played the main role in Hidarime Tantei Eye SP.

In March 2010, it was announced that Yamada and two other leading members of NYC boys would form a new group called NYC, leaving behind the remaining four members.NYC released a number one single "Yuuki 100%" on April 7, 2010. From this point on, Yamada began performing as a singer of two groups, Hey! Say! JUMP and NYC.

In September 2011, he played the voice of Clumsy in the Japanese-dubbed version of the film The Smurfs. Hey! Say! JUMP's ninth single, "Magic Power", was used as the theme song for the film.

From November 2012 to January 2013, he played the lead role in a musical, Johnny’s World. For the musical, Yamada performed tight-rope walking everyday for three months in each show.

On January 12, 2013, he starred in a two-hour television special for, Kinda'ichi Shōnen no Jikenbo titled Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo Hong Kong Kowloon Zaihou Satsujin Jiken (The Hong Kong Kowloon Treasure Murder Case). He played the main role as Hajime Kindaichi. The show was created to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Japanese broadcasting company, NTV. Yamada’s Mystery Virgin was used as the theme song for the show.

After the specials, Ryosuke was then approached to continue starring as Kindaichi for a new serial drama for the Kindaichi series. The new series will be titled Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo N (neo) and started airing in July 2014.

In August 2015, Hey! Say! JUMP was chosen as the TV personality of NTV's annual 24 Hour Television, which was a program to raise awareness for all the people that are going through hard times, alongside another Johnny's group, V6. Yamada portrayed the hero, Ryohei Sasaki, in the 24 Hour Television drama special called Okaasan, Ore Wa Daijoubu, along with other Johnny's members Takahisa Masuda and Yoshihiko Inohara as cast members. He portrayed a high school student who's passionate about soccer, but suffers from a brain tumor. For the role, Yamada lost 6 kg within just a week.

On December 2, 2016, Yamada was cast to lead a movie titled Miracles of the Namiya General Store based on the best-selling novel of the same name by an award-winning Writer, Higashino Keigo. The novel was claimed to be one of Higashino's best works. It tells the story of two people living in different eras (1980 and 2012) which will be connected by a letter, a story depicting human bonds and miracles. Yamada will portray a delinquent who stumbles upon a mysterious store that leads to several events that changes his life. The movie will be directed by Ryuichi Hiroki, filming expected to start January 2017 and is slated for Autumn 2017 release.

As an actor, he is best known for portraying Hajime Kindaichi in the Kindaichi Case Files live action drama franchise and Nagisa Shiota in the Assassination Classroom live action adaptation movie franchise. He, also, plays Edward Elric in the live-action film, Fullmetal Alchemist, which was released on December 1, 2017.

Yamada was cast as the lead to the NTV Saturday 10p.m drama for the winter of 2018, with the title Momikeshite Fuyu, a family comedy drama that tells the story of 3 elite siblings of a Doctor, a Lawyer, and a police officer who struggles to cover up scandals related to their family. Yamada plays the youngest child, an elite Police Officer, graduated from the University of Tokyo, who struggles to be accepted by his family under the shadows of his older siblings. The series premiered on January 13, 2018 with a solid rating of 13.3%.