Tusi was born and raised in Vaimoso, Samoa. He came to New Zealand at the age of eighteen and studied at the New Zealand Film School, Victoria University of Wellington and at the University of Waikato where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in social sciences and a Master of Arts degree in creative writing.

In 2007, the feature film script that Tusi had written for his MA degree won the Embassy Trust Award and Dominion Post Award. In 2009 Tusi wrote and directed the short film Va Tapuia/Sacred Spaces. The short film screened at a number of international film festivals including the NZ Film Festival, ImagiNative Film Festival (Toronto), Oberhausen (Germany) and Clermont Ferrand (France). The crew for the short film would form the core team for Tusi’s next project.

In 2011, Tusi’s 2007 MA script became his feature film directorial debut O le Tulafale/The Orator. The Orator was shot in Samoa, and is entirely in the Samoan language. The film premiered in competition at the 2011 Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti (New Horizons) section.

One Thousand Ropes is the second feature film written and directed by Tusi. Shot in the Wellington suburb of Newtown in November and December of 2015, and released in 2017, One Thousand Ropes is a powerful character drama of a father reconnecting with his youngest daughter and together putting to rest the ghosts that haunt them.

Tusi lives with his wife Melanie and three children in Wellington.