Lam was born in Singapore to a Malayan father and a Eurasian mother—her grandparents were Charles Davis, a Welsh engineer who married May Lawrence, a part-Chinese woman, before World War II.

[2] In 1991, Lam played the Shitsu Tonka Newsreader in the ABC TV comedy series DAAS Kapital.

[3] It was on the series that she met Doug Anthony All Stars member Richard Fidler who she would go on to marry in 1993 and have one son and one daughter with him.

[4] In 1994 and 1995, Lam appeared in several episodes of Neighbours as Ling Mai Chan, the daughter of Lou Carpenter.

[5] In 1998, Lam wrote a recipe book, Eating In: a Post Modern Posthaste Experience, which was published by Hodder Headline.