Her late mother Tang Mei-mei (鄧美美) was an actress who was not widely known, and her younger sister Yu Chi-lai (stage name Koi Chi-fui) was a pupil of Cantonese Opera performer Yam Kim-fai.

Yu appeared in The Elderly Gentleman Searches for Romance, a 1950 Comedy film directed by Wong Hok-Sing.

Her roles and personality leave a deep impression with the audience and she does not mind to be the symbol of 'ugly woman' on TV and movies in Hong Kong.

[5] On 22 June 2006, she acted as the ambassador of the charitable activity called 'Cascc famine eight hours'.

[6] In 2020, Yu was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer and pulmonary fibrosis [7][8]