Lim was born in Perth, Western Australia to Chinese-Malaysian parents[2] who had migrated from Malaysia to Australia in the 1970s.[3] When she was five years old, her parents divorced.[2] Lim was primarily raised by her single father.[2] Her mother moved to Malaysia[2] and remarried, with a Peranakan man.[4] Lim would often travel to Malaysia, where she had family other than her mother, to visit her mother.[2] Lim's father later also remarried, and had a son with his new wife when she was 12 years old.[2]
Lim graduated as the dux of her high school Hampton Senior High School.[2][5] 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".[2]
Lim is a physician,[10] mostly working in part-time, locum posts in emergency medicine, geriatrics, and palliative care departments,[11][12][2][5] and a clinical lecturer at the University of Sydney's Northern Clinical School.[13] She is the Director of Programs at the Pam McLean Centre, 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[d] it", adding that "acting is now my job opposed to my hobby".[12]
Entertainment career
As an actor, Lim made ten guest appearances on the Australian hospital drama All Saints as Suzi Lau, and appeared as a regular cast member on SBS's police drama East West 101 as Jung Lim.[14] Lim played Mae, the younger Thai girlfriend of Josh's father, in Please Like Me, and starred in Forget Me Not in 2014,[15] and in The Secret Daughter, Wonderland and Pulse in 2016.
As a presenter she has appeared on the ABC's Ask The Doctors, and on Food Investigators and Destination Flavour.
Lim creates content for Nay In The Life, a multi-platform project that combines video, theatre and written content centred around well-being and personal development.[citation needed]