Yousry was born in Cairo in 1952 to a Coptic family. He studied economics at Cairo University before studying cinema at the Higher Institute for Cinema in Cairo in 1973.

Initially, Yousry worked as a cinema critic for a Lebanese paper named al-Safeer and as a director’s assistant in Beirut. He also worked as a director’s assistant with Youssif Chahine on the film projects “Wada’an Bonaparte” and “Hadoutta Masriyah” (1981). Furthermore, Yousry also worked with Folker Shlondorf on “al-Muzayyaf” and with ‘Umar Amiraly on the documentary title “Massaib Qoum”.