Born on May 30, 1958, in Kowloon, Hong Kong, Thomas inherited his artistic style and techniques from his father, H. Leung. Being the eldest out of four sons, he grew up watching his father create beauty on canvas and knew that he too would learn to capture the same enchanting atmosphere that his father’s work gave to gallery visitors. As a teenager, Thomas Leung exhibited his first paintings at the H. Leung Gallery located at the Miramar Hotel in Hong Kong with his father's work. His family then immigrated to the United States in 1978 where he went to Alameda College to major in art. While still in college, he started to develop his own individual style, finding exciting new ways to express his novel ideas through abstract painting. He experimented with colours, created new concepts, and found new paths of artistic development that differed from his father. After graduation, he was invited to showcase his paintings in exhibitions in Tokyo, Japan at the 18th and 19th Asia Modern Art Exhibitions as well as the Tokyo International Art Show.