Tsui was born in Vietnam and moved to Hong Kong in his teenage years, later studying in Austin, Texas. He deftly sources material from folklore and mythology, drawing from mainland China and his erstwhile home of Vietnam, to create films which resonate with a wide audience. Tsui broke into the Hong Kong film scene with the fantasy thriller The Butterfly Murders (1979), and cemented his reputation with Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind (1980). The former cast him as a political firebrand in the eyes of the government censors, who ordered the film to be heavily edited. Tsui’s craft has continued to evolve with the changing film industry, and he has successfully worked on blockbuster action films with the likes of Jet Lee as he tries his hand at animated films.