If you watched Growing Up from 1996 to 2002, one of Singapore's most well-known English dramas, you might recall the character of David, the second son of the Tay family, played by Steven David Lim.

Lim went to Britain to attend drama school and pursue a career in theatre.

He appeared in the theatre adaptation of Adventures of Tintin.

Out of the closet by the 1990s

On June 23, Singapore based LGBT website Dear Straight People put up an interview featuring Lim, in which he described his experience of coming out of the closet.

Came to realise he was gay over a period of time

Lim said that there was no single moment in which he realised he was gay.

Rather, it was a culmination of multiple small moments that supposedly peaked in an epiphany while he was dating a girl.

As Lim stated in his own words:

"I don’t remember it being one singular moment of clarity but rather over quite a long period of time with small incidences." 

Lim added that while the relationship with the girl went well, he found something amiss from it which led him to the conclusion that he was gay.

Subsequently, he met his first boyfriend, with their relationship lasting for over a year.

Gave indirect replies when asked about his private life

Lim subsequently stated that he was openly gay by the time he began working in the media industry during the 1990s.

He added that he also knew about other gay actors, although no one was publicly out at that time.

Lim highlighted however, that he did not want to lie to the press about his private life when asked.

As such, he decided to reply in an indirect manner that he was gay, without explicitly stating it aloud.

As per Lim's example of such an answer:

"‘Are you attached?’

‘Yes.’

‘Who is the lucky girl?’

‘I don’t have a girlfriend.’"

Lim added that such replies meant that he eventually stopped receiving such questions.

Involved in LGBT-themed productions

Lim has since been involved in LGBT-themed productions such as The Cut Sleeve (2006), a comedy focused on two British Chinese gay men, and People Like Us, a locally produced web drama series that first started in 2016 with the backing of gayhealth.sg.

Lim added that he was particularly proud of his involvement in the latter project, as it dealt with what he called taboo topics within the LGBT community.

Not the first gay actor to be publicly out

Despite the publication's assertion, Lim is not the first Singapore actor to have publicly stated that he is gay.

Actor-cum-artistic-director Ivan Heng has also revealed his sexuality to the public, along with his marriage to his partner, Tony Trickett.

As for Lim, he has been in a relationship with his current boyfriend for 5 years.

Lim is also currently based in Bangkok as a photographer.

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Top image from Dear Straight People and Mediacorp

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