Cracking into the Hollywood scene isn’t easy.
David Lim knew this when he arrived in Los Angeles.
Fortunately for him, instead of waiting tables, he had a modelling career to fall back on.
After grabbing small parts in a few TV shows, “Quantico” landed in his lap.
In a recent Zoom interview, Lim recalled: “You know when I moved to LA, I always wanted to become an actor, but that takes a little longer to start realising a little success. I think it was six years before I found myself with a kind of regular role on TV.
“And that was when I did ’Quantico’ with Pearl Thusi, a South African native, right? So, in that six years, before I found myself with a regular gig on the show, the jobs I was getting was modelling jobs – that was kind of my survival gig.
“The dream was to become an actor, but I needed to make some money while I was pursuing that dream. I have a lot of great memories and friends that I made when I was modelling. I met my wife on a modelling job.”
Lim tied the knot with Marketa Kazdova in 2019.
As much as “Quantico” was a big deal for Lim, it was the same for Priyanka Chopra, who has now become Hollywood royalty, as well as Thusi.
From his comments, it was clear that he gelled with Thusi on set.
He laughed: “Oh yeah, I love Pearl. She’s wild. We hit it off from the get-go. That was a great time. I moved from LA, picked up my stuff and flew out to New York to film ’Quantico’.
“I loved the people that I got to work with on the show, especially Pearl.
“She was so fun. We still keep in touch to this day. I love that she continues to do her thing and be successful.”
Although season four of “S.W.A.T.” is airing in South Africa, the fifth instalment has been released in the US.
Like most TV stories, the Covid-19 struggles, as well as the campaign around Black Lives Matter, were interwoven into the story arcs of the fourth season, where Lim plays officer Victor Tan.
He pointed out: “You know that was happening right during Covid, it felt pretty close to home when we were shooting at the time.
“And there was hate crime against Asian individuals in the US and all over the world. I told myself, ‘Don’t mess this scene up. You got to deliver’.
“It’s nice to touch on things that are happening in the world. I think that is what sets our show apart from others.”
In the storyline, his mother is attacked for being Asian while out shopping. This doesn’t sit well with Tan, and he tracks down the guy responsible for the assault.
As for shooting in a pandemic, he shared: “We are in season five in the States. I think season four, we shot this entire season at the height of the pandemic, and we faced challenges like no other.
“We had such strict protocols, and it was a very tough season on all of us to film. And I think we probably delivered the best seasons of ’S.W.A.T.’ in season four. That is probably why I am still here and what helped us get a fifth season.”
Lim added: “In the fifth season, I think you guys are in for a treat. We get to learn a lot about each and every character.
“I love getting into the characters lives, and we continue to deliver the action that fans are accustomed to.”
Now “S.W.A.T.” is an action series, which means plenty of fight scenes and stunts.
Although the actors are not allowed to do any dangerous stunts, there are a few they are allowed.
He added: “What’s cool about our cast is that everyone is pretty much athletic and so we are in there doing all of our fight scenes and a lot of the action.
“When they let us do them (stunts), we are happy to hop in there. We worked with former Navy SEALs and former S.W.A.T. officers in training for the pilot because it is so action-heavy.
“We really wanted to make sure from the get-go that we were as authentic as we could possibly be.
“We almost went through a sort of boot camp where we trained for several hours of the day with our S.W.A.T. tech adviser, Odie Gallop, who is still with us and is a very good friend of mine.
“He’s still training us, and we are still learning. Now we are pretty settled in, so a lot of it comes second nature to us.”
In the series, while the cast is thrust into dangerous situations, the writers also reflect their personal life struggles.
Lim confirmed: “In season five, Tan is not on the team, so he has to make his way back.
“Now I don’t want to give too much away, but Tan will continue to face challenges at S.W.A.T. and at home.
“There’s a new flame that comes back, and it kind of blurs the line between S.W.A.T. life and personal life. I like when the character has conflict and challenges. It’s fun to play as an actor. I would love to see that go forward.”
“S.W.A.T.” airs on M-Net (DStv channel 101) on Tuesdays at 8.30pm.