It is a theorem of Sumihiro (Equivariant completion, Corollary 2) that a normal variety over an algebraically closed field with an action of a torus is covered by invariant affine open subsets.
Here, the normality hypothesis is necessary : the conclusion does not hold for the action of $\mathbb{G}_m$ on $\mathbb{P}^1$ with $0$ and $\infty$ glued together transversally. The hypothesis that the group is a torus is also necessary. Indeed, the statement already fails even for SL(2), even for a proper action. There is an example in Białynicki-Birula and Święcicka's paper "On complete orbit spaces of SL(2) actions II".