Since young, Lim found a love for acting, but her parents and relatives were not supportive of her desire to pursue it as a profession.
Against the wishes of her family, she moved to the United Kingdom in 1961 at the age of 16 to study at the London School of Dramatic Art.
[3] Her birth name was romanized Lim Phaik-Seng, but she changed her given name to "Pik-Sen" since her British friends would mispronounce "Phaik" as "fake".
[4] The couple's daughter, Sara Houghton, is also an actress;[1] the two women once portrayed characters with the same relationship in Three Thousand Troubled Threads.
[5] Sara also appeared in a serial of Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures called The Curse of Clyde Langer.