Joseph Chi Chiong Chavez was born in South America in 1953. His father practiced as a doctor in Ecuador while his mother was a Peruvian-Chinese. Chi dropped out of college in his junior year to become an amateur race car driver in Hong Kong, and got to know a group of stunt drivers.

In 1978, while visiting friends on a film set, he volunteered to take part in a stunt involving a car hitting a wall of glass, which marked his initiation into the film business. Chi began working as a stuntman and in the early 1980s, he was promoted to the position of action choreographer.