[5] Eng's grandparents originally came to America from Toy Shan (Taishan) county in southern China's Guangdong province.

Heartache is set in San Francisco and was directed by Frank Tang, and was shot in eight days, with two reels in color.

[1][5] After China entered into war with Japan, she directed the film National Heroine (1937) about a female pilot who fights for her country.

[2] In 1941, Eng directed the film Golden Gate Girl in San Francisco, which received a favorable review in Variety that year.

[1][2] Eng followed it up with another film with Lee titled Too Late For Springtime (1949) about a Chinese girl's relationship with a Chinese-American GI.

[5] Esther Eng, aged 55, died from cancer on January 25, 1970, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

[7][6] On April 1, 2013, a documentary about the life and career of Esther Eng titled Golden Gate Silver Light premiered at the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

[5][8] The film was directed by Louisa Wei and was inspired by the 2006 discovery of Eng's photo albums dated between the years 1928 and 1948.

[5] S. Louisa Wei's 2014 feature documentary, Golden Gate Girls, compares the media representation of Eng with that of Dorothy Arzner.

Judith Mayne, the author of Directed by Dorothy Arzner, is interviewed in the documentary, saying, "I love the fact that history of woman filmmakers now would include Dorothy Arzner and Esther Eng as the two of the real exceptions, who proved it was entirely possible to build a successful film career without necessarily being a part of mainstream identity.