Hsu Chi was born as Shu Qi on April 16, 1976 in Taiwan. When she was 17 years old her family moved to Hong Kong where she started working for adult magazine and as a model of porn films, such as "Sex & Zen II".

In 1996, Hsu was seen in Derek Yee's film "Viva Erotica". The film is about the infamous erotic movie industry in Hong Kong. In the movie, actress was seen opposite Karen Mok and Leslie Cheung. For her great performance, she was awarded the Best Supporting Actress Award by the Hong Kong Film Awards. Her role in Viva Erotica paved the way for her to appear in mainstream movies. She has finally escaped appearing in pornographic movies.

Then in 1998, she was seen in another mainstream movie, in the film "Gorgeous". In this film, Hsu Chi had the honor of appearing opposite international star Jackie Chan. The following year, Hsu Chi was seen in "The Island Tales" by Staley Kwan.

Then in 1999, Shu Qi was supposed to appear in the internationally hit film, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Ang Lee chose her for the character of Jen but with just few weeks into filming, Manfred Wong, her manager, pulled her out of the film for a commercial of soft drinks in Japan. Her manager did not realize how successful the film would be so the role instead went to actress Zhang Ziyi.

In 2000, actress landed a role in the commercially and critically successful movie Millennium Mambo by Hou Hsiao-Hsien. Millennium Mambo was released the following year. In 2001 she appeared in "Visible Secret", "Love Me Love My Money" and "Beijing Rocks". Then in 2002, she landed her first Hollywood movie in "The Transporter". This was followed by another Hollywood film entitled, "So Close". Shu Qi was also in the films Just One Look, Women From Mars and The Wesley's Mysterious File, in 2002.

In 2004, she was seen in the Hong Kong film "The Eye 2". She was also seen in the films "The Foliage" that year. In 2005 she reunited with director Hou Hsiao-Hsien in the movie "Three Times", for which she was awarded the Best Actress Award by the Golden Horse Award that year. That same year, she was also in the movie "Home Sweet Home".