Michelle Lim Davidson dated a fellow actor for 10 years. Now she’s happily single

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. 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.

I was adopted by my Australian parents from Seoul in 1987, and have lived in Australia since I was 4½ months old. My parents also adopted my Australian sister, who is five years younger than me.

My father was born in Newcastle and raised in a working-class family. He worked in sales for a confectionery company. He played guitar in a cover band most Saturday nights in 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. 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. My parents never told me I was adopted, but it was pretty obvious.

My birth parents in Korea are still together. I saw them a few months ago. They are similarly from a working-class background. When I first met them at the end of 2019, they were running a small convenience mart. They worked there for over 30 years from 6am to 11pm every day without taking a holiday.

I first saw my birth father in an old black-and-white photo when he was quite young. If you cut the photo in half, I have his eyes and eyebrows. I am also half of his personality. One of the first things he sent me was a YouTube link to a song that reminded him of me. He is also a deep and serious thinker, quite introverted, too. We go from wistful and poetic to giving out facts quite quickly.

It’s a common experience to have a big relationship end in your early 30s. This was a critical time for me.

In year 11, at Hunter School of the Performing Arts, I was cast as the lead in Bye Bye Birdie. There was a guy in the play who was funny, charismatic, and the girls always crowded around him. I was the opposite – a quirky theatre nerd. I remember we had our first kiss at the after-party – it took me by surprise. We always talked and got along well, but I never thought he would entertain a closeness with me. A couple of years later, after I left school, we ended up in a relationship together.

My teacher, Mr Carol, encouraged me to do drama as an elective. He cast me in an adaptation of Waiting for Godot, where I played Lucky and won an award for outstanding performer. It was so unexpected. I remember Mr Carol saying, “See, you can act.” He’s the reason why I even entertained the idea of becoming an actor.

My celebrity crush growing up was John Farnham. I really liked his voice and watching him perform on TV. He was more of a talent crush.

I had a boyfriend when I was 22 at WAAPA [Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts]. We dated as professional actors and lived and worked in Sydney. We were together for a decade.

It’s a common experience to have a big relationship end in your early 30s. This was a critical time for me. I had just met my Korean family; my biological clock was ticking. We broke up during this time. I realised we had loved each other for the right amount of time; there was no more love to grow. 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.

Michael Lucas brought me into the writers’ room to be part of a great creative collaborative process for [ABC-TV series] The Newsreader. I’d never had that experience before. It meant I was able to build a character that felt true, because I was playing a Korean-Australian woman in the show.

I worked with Stephen Peacocke for three seasons of The Newsreader. He is a wonderful
actor – generous and curious. I felt safe with him.

I’ve also been on Play School for 14 years and am close friends with co-presenter Alex Papps. He did my callback audition and we have toured the live show – you really get to know someone in a hire car on a six-hour drive to Wagga Wagga.

I’ve never been somebody who wanted to get married. It’s not that I’m not open to it, but it would have to involve a discussion of what marriage means to that other person. But at the moment, I’m very happy to be Aunty Mish. I am happily single.

Koreaboo is at the Brisbane Festival, September 2-19, and in Melbourne, September 24 to October 10.

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