Syamsul Yusof was born on 21 May 1984 in Kuala Lumpur. He is a Malaysian actor, film director, scriptwriter, film producer, rapper and singer. He is the son of famous director Yusof Haslam. He set the record as the youngest director to win the Malaysian Film Festival, doing so at the age of 26. His brother, Syafiq Yusof, his cousins, Rizal Ashreff and Sabrina Ali and his half-brother is Faizal Yusof are also actors. Syafiq and Faizal themselves also have their other careers as film directors. Born into a family who owns one of the largest film companies in Malaysia, the desire in film directing was ingrained to him from a very young age. His father, recognizing this, decided to test his directing abilities by allowing him to direct the former's police drama series "Gerak Khas" for a few episodes as an assignment. After those episodes were given the approval by his father, Syamsul was now confident enough to sit in the director's chair. He eventually decided to produce and direct his first feature film. The script that would eventually became "Evolusi KL Drift", co-written by him and his cousin Rizal was initially rejected by his father for further redrafting. After the revision, his first film project was finally approved alongside a budget of RM 1.35 million. Despite his lack of directing experience and the immense pressure of keeping reputation of his family, "Evolusi KL Drift" managed to succeed. The film's success paved the way for several other directorial endeavors.