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. Lam and her family moved to Australia when she was aged seven. She studied film-making in Melbourne, while waitressing and taking acting roles to support her studies.[1]
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]