Sydney Morning Herald - Latest News
· collected 2026-09-05 · by Jane Rocca
Michelle Lim Davidson, a 39-year-old actress known for her roles in TV shows such as Play School and The Newsreader, discusses her life, including meeting her Korean birth parents and the end of her decade-long relationship with a fellow actor. She adopted a working-class lifestyle herself after reconnecting with her birth parents, who are still together in Korea and worked at a small convenience mart for over 30 years. Davidson's longest relationship was with an ex-boyfriend she met in school, with whom she dated on and off from the age of 18 to 28.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Actor Michelle Lim Davidson is best known for her roles in TV shows such as Play School and The Newsreader, and her new play, Koreaboo.
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Davidson → know → School
Here, the 39-year-old talks about meeting her Korean birth parents, the end of her last relationship, and why she’s happily single for now.
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she → talk → relationship
I was adopted by my Australian parents from Seoul in 1987, and have lived in Australia since I was 4½ months old.
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I → adopt → Australia
My parents also adopted my Australian sister, who is five years younger than me.
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who → adopt → me
My father was born in Newcastle and raised in a working-class family.
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father → bear → family
He worked in sales for a confectionery company.
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He → work → company
He played guitar in a cover band most Saturday nights in Newcastle.
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He → play → Newcastle
While Dad’s day job was all about interacting with customers, he was quite an introverted person – very private, quiet and happy to potter around at home.
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he → interact → home
His father used to deliver bread and milk on a horse and cart through the streets of Carrington [NSW] and my mother’s father was a coalminer.
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father → use → Carrington
My parents never told me I was adopted, but it was pretty obvious.
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it → tell → me
I saw them a few months ago.
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I → see → them
When I first met them at the end of 2019, they were running a small convenience mart.
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they → meet → mart
They worked there for over 30 years from 6am to 11pm every day without taking a holiday.
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They → work → holiday
I first saw my birth father in an old black-and-white photo when he was quite young.
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he → see → photo
If you cut the photo in half, I have his eyes and eyebrows.
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I → cut → eyes
One of the first things he sent me was a YouTube link to a song that reminded him of me.
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that → send → me
We go from wistful and poetic to giving out facts quite quickly.
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We → go → facts
It’s a common experience to have a big relationship end in your early 30s.
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relationship → ’ → 30s
In year 11, at Hunter School of the Performing Arts, I was cast as the lead in Bye Bye Birdie.
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I → cast → Birdie
There was a guy in the play who was funny, charismatic, and the girls always crowded around him.
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girls → be → him
I remember we had our first kiss at the after-party – it took me by surprise.
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it → remember → surprise
We always talked and got along well, but I never thought he would entertain a closeness with me.
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he → talk → me
A couple of years later, after I left school, we ended up in a relationship together.
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we → leave → relationship
My teacher, Mr Carol, encouraged me to do drama as an elective.
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teacher → encourage → elective
He cast me in an adaptation of Waiting for Godot, where I played Lucky and won an award for outstanding performer.
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I → cast → performer
I remember Mr Carol saying, “See, you can act.”
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you → remember → ?
He’s the reason why I even entertained the idea of becoming an actor.
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I → ’ → actor
My celebrity crush growing up was John Farnham.
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crush → grow → ?
I really liked his voice and watching him perform on TV.
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him → like → TV
I had a boyfriend when I was 22 at WAAPA [Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts].
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I → have → Arts
We dated as professional actors and lived and worked in Sydney.
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We → date → Sydney
It’s a common experience to have a big relationship end in your early 30s.
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relationship → ’ → 30s
I had just met my Korean family; my biological clock was ticking.
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clock → meet → family
We broke up during this time.
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We → break → time
I realised we had loved each other for the right amount of time; there was no more love to grow.
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we → realise → time
I didn’t need anything from him or anyone else to fix me, and learned to love in a different way – that had come from connecting with my family in Korea.
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that → need → Korea
Michael Lucas brought me into the writers’ room to be part of a great creative collaborative process for [ABC-TV series] The Newsreader.
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Lucas → bring → series
I’d never had that experience before.
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I → have → experience
It meant I was able to build a character that felt true, because I was playing a Korean-Australian woman in the show.
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I → mean → show
I worked with Stephen Peacocke for three seasons of The Newsreader.
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I → work → Newsreader
…and 6 more, not listed.
