Used the Reddy's higher-order shear deformation plate theory, the nonlinear dynamic analysis and vibration of imperfect functionally graded sandwich plates in thermal environment with piezoelectric actuators (PFGM) on elastic foundations subjected to a combination of electrical, damping loadings and temperature are investigated in this article. One of the salient features of this work is the consideration of temperature on the piezoelectric layer, and the material properties of the PFGM sandwich plates are assumed to be temperature-dependent. The governing equations are established based on the stress function, the Galerkin method, and the Runge–Kutta method. In the numerical results, the effects of geometrical parameters; material properties; imperfections; elastic foundations; electrical, thermal, and damping loads on the vibration and nonlinear dynamic response of the PFGM sandwich plates are discussed. The obtained natural frequencies are verified with the known results in the literature.