Lim was born in Perth, Western Australia to Chinese-Malaysian parents who had migrated from Malaysia to Australia in the 1970s. When she was five years old, her parents divorced; Lim was primarily raised by her single father, and her mother moved to Malaysia and remarried a Peranakan man. Lim would often travel to Malaysia, where she had family other than her mother, to visit her mother. Lim's father later remarried and had a son with his new wife when she was 12 years old. Lim graduated as the dux of her high school, Hampton Senior High School. Few from Lim's high school pursued tertiary studies, and she had initially intended to "be a doctor on weekdays, a lawyer on weekends, an actor on the holidays and a dancer at night". At 17 years old, Lim moved to Sydney, New South Wales to commence medical studies at the University of New South Wales, graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgeryin 2001. In 2000, Lim co-directed the University of New South Wales Medical Revue, American Booty, alongside Keith Lim and Jason Appleby. Also during her university studies, Lim co-authored two academic articles.
Career
Medical career
Lim is a physician, mostly working in part-time, locum posts in emergency medicine, geriatrics, and palliative care departments, and a clinical lecturer at the University of Sydney's Northern Clinical School. She is the Director of Programs at the , an organisation that develops communication training for medical professionals. Lim considered leaving medical practice altogether to focus on acting; however, she realised that she "love it", adding that "acting is now my job opposed to my hobby".
Entertainment career
As an actor, Lim has made ten guest appearances on the Australian hospital drama All Saints as Suzi Lau and also as a regular cast member on SBS's police dramaEast West 101 as Jung Lim., Lim is currently playing Mae, the younger Thai girlfriend of Josh's father, in Please Like Me. She starred in 2016's The Secret Daughter, Wonderland and the upcoming ABC drama . She also stars in 2014's Forget Me Not. As a presenter she also appears on the ABC's , as well as previously presenting on and . She also creates content for her website , a multi-platform project that combines video, theatre and written content centred around well-being and personal development.
