In the same year, Donnie decided to put hold of pursuing a career in Hollywood and flew back to Hong Kong to find quality work. Through his dear friend and Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan, he got signed up as action director on Chin gei bin (2003) which was produced by Emperor Multimedia Group Co. (EMG) and starred the pop stars Gillian Chung and Charlene Choi, and with Jackie Chan in a cameo appearance. The movie earned him a nomination for "Best Action Design" at the 2003 Hong Kong Film Awards and also the 2003 Golden Horse Awards, both of which he won. He continued to work on few movies after that, including Gin chap hak mooi gwai (2004) as director and action director, and Chin Kei Bin 2 - Fa Tou Tai Kam (2004) as actor, where he once again worked with Jackie Chan on an anticipated fight scene which was satisfying enough for fans.

Later on in 2004, Donnie's career took a different turn when Hark Tsui offered him a leading role in Qi Jian (2005) which was an adaptation of a lengthy novel written by Liang Yu-Sheng about seven warriors and their mystical swords. Despite the disappointing box-office reception the movie got when it was released locally, the movie was nonetheless a great showcase for Donnie as an actor and action performer which was unlike anything he did in previous works. Around the same time, Donnie Yen also teamed up with Wilson Yip, another acclaimed director in Hong Kong, and together they made the highly anticipated crime drama Saat po long (2005) which successfully combined intense drama and unique storytelling/visuals with groundbreaking martial arts action that went on to become favored by many fans and Hong Kong movie viewers after its release. Donnie's way of shooting MA action, which was nothing like people had already seen, earned him a nomination and a price at the 2005 Hong Kong Film Awards for "Best Action Design". The movie also led to a trend of similar HK action movies where storytelling/visuals along with hard-hitting MA action was to be highlighted as much as possible.

After the success, Donnie and Wilson Yip teamed up immediately for more collaborations which includes the comic book adaptation Lung Fu Moon (2006) and the hard-hitting action drama Dou fo sin (2007), both of which were very successful at the box-office and among viewers who today considers him as the new pinnacle of Hong Kong martial arts/action movies, thanks to these accomplishments. Donnie both earned the "Best Action Design" nomination at the 2006 Hong Kong Film Awards as well as the "Best Action Direction" nomination at 2006 Golden Bauhinia Awards for Lung Fu Moon (2006) ending up winning the latter, while he was awarded for his action design on Dou fo sin (2007) at both the 2007 Golden Bauhinia Awards and the 2007 Hong Kong Film Awards.

In recent years, Donnie had a leading role in the battle epic Jiang shan mei ren (2008) directed by acclaimed Hong Kong action director Siu-Tung Ching which was a big success in Mainland China, and continued further with the supernatural romance movie Hua pi (2008) by Gordon Chan, and the martial arts biopic Yip Man (2008) helmed by Wilson Yip which was based on the life of one of Bruce Lee's martial arts teachers, Yip Man. The latter became a sensational mega success all over China and people within the HK film industry started taking note after Wilson Yip's matured style of filmmaking, Sammo Hung's fresh MA choreography which many considers to be a redefinition of his career behind the scenes and, above all, Donnie's acting performance which many doubted at first but eventually highly praised. This has also led to other successful directors and producers approaching Donnie and giving him offers to work in front of the camera.

Through his progression in the Hong Kong film industry from the start, when he was just like any other action performer, to nowadays as arguably the most offering leading martial arts actor and the most promising action director it's been proved that as long as Donnie Yen is still active in movie-making, whether working in front of or behind the camera, he will most certainly break grounds and create more innovative concepts of MA and fight choreography for the martial arts action genre realizing them with either his own brand of unique MA skills or with others, which fans are eager to see on the big screen.