In 1999, he was one of 3 students awarded a place at the University of Art and Design Helsinki as a major in directing. He had no former experience in directing or holding a camera.
Karukoski's debut feature Beauty and the Bastard (Tyttö sinä olet tähti) showed at the Berlin International Film Festival and Tribeca Film Festival in 2006. The film, which stars Pamela Tola, concerns young people in Finland who are caught between conventional careers and more alternative forms of living. The film's score contains contemporary Finnish pop music, particularly hip-hop and rap music. Beauty and the Bastard won the Norwegian National Film Prize Amanda sponsored by Canal+ & Svensk Filmindustri AB for best Nordic Debut-Film. Beauty and the Bastard was also nominated in eight categories for the Finnish National Film Awards Jussi Award including nominations for Best film and Best Director. It won the Audience Award and the prize for Best Music.
Karukoski's second feature film The Home of Dark Butterflies (Tummien perhosten koti) premiered in Finland January 2008. It is a drama about Juhani, a 13-year-old castaway sent to a home for boys on an island. The Home of Dark Butterflies was nominated in ten categories for the Finnish National Film Awards, and this time Karukoski won the prize for the Best Director. The Home of Dark Butterflies was also chosen as Finland's representative for both The Nordic Council Film Prize and the Academy Awards.
In 2009, Karukoski was invited by the President of Finland Tarja Halonen to attend Finland's Independence Day Ball: Itsenäisyyspäivän vastaanotto at the Presidential Palace. The President invites artists, athletes, academics and public figures who are highly acclaimed in their profession and invitations are regarded as a great honour.
In 2010, Karukoski wrote and directed a fictional short film Burungo together with Actress Pamela Tola. The film handles poverty and the sexuality of young girls in the slums of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The word Burungo means both girl and commodity in the street language Sheng which is spoken in the slums of Nairobi.
In 2013, Karukoski married his long-time partner Nadia. Their son, Oliver, was born in 2014.
Karukoski's sixth release Mielensäpahoittaja titled in English The Grump premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014. The Grump is a tragicomedy with a retired main protagonist based on a book series written by Tuomas Kyrö. It was an enormous hit in Finland, earning gross revenues placing it in the top 3 Finnish films of the past 25 years. The film got the Box office number one spot of the year, bearing blockbuster titles including The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. The Grump was nominated for Best Fim, Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Finnish Film Awards and won the award for Best Actor. With his nomination for the Best Director award, Dome Karukoski became the first Finnish film Director ever to be nominated for every one of his first six feature films.
In 2017 it was announced that Karukoski had been chosen to direct a new biopic about the author J. R. R. Tolkien which will depict his formative years as a teenager and as a young man during the First World War. The film will be made by Chernin Entertainment for Fox Searchlight.
