The soul of a storyteller

Excitement can be heard in the voice of actress Mei Fen Lim when she speaks about her latest role in Exit...Stage Left, a film under the direction of S. Lingesvaran.

“I am playing a domestic abuse victim called Ivy,” says the 33- year-old actress, who is currently shooting the film.

“I have to be soft spoken, timid and fragile.”

In the film, Ivy’s three best friends beg her to leave her abusive husband. But Ivy is reluctant. Things get complicated when her husband gets murdered and Ivy becomes the prime suspect for his murder.

Lim is unable to reveal much else about the plot. This English language crime thriller is set to premiere sometime next year.

“I always love working on a film that has a multiracial cast,” she says.

Another role she is excited about is from the Malay film Prebet Sabu under the direction of Muzzamer Rahman. She plays a Malaysian Chinese woman named Bella who is planning to migrate to the US in search of a better future.

The film is also expected to hit cinemas next year.

She says: “I was like Bella. I always wanted to migrate from this country. I always thought the grass was greener on the other side.”

Over the years, she realised that home is where her heart is, and has since abandoned her dream to migrate.

“I am a Malaysian Chinese, but my soul is Malaysian,” she says.

“I am more interested in telling Malaysian stories.”

During her school days, she took part in storytelling competitions, walked the fashion show that her school organised and acted in short sketches.

She says: “I love to express myself creatively. In my heart, I wanted to be an actress. But I am also a realistic person. I fully understand that it is difficult to survive as an actress in Malaysia. So, I decided to choose another career path.”

Her first brush with the entertainment industry happened when she decided to accompany a friend who was attending auditions for the reality show, I Wanna Be A Model.

The producer coaxed Lim to be one of the participants. Later, she landed a deal to model for the TV game show Deal or No Deal. Then she took a break from the entertainment scene, and helped her father to run his electrical engineering company.

But she could not resist the temptation of fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming an actress. In 2013, she auditioned for and bagged a role in a unique film called The Cage, opposite award- winning actress Yeo Yann Yann.

The film had no script, and the actors had to improvise their performances.

Since then, Lim has produced several notable performances on both stage and screen.

Last year, the Kuala Lumpur Film Critics Association nominated her for the Best Actress award for her performance as a traumatised woman in James Lee’s horror film, Two Sisters.

With a huge laugh, she says: “It is still a struggle to be an actress in this country. But now, it is too late for me [to go back].”

She believes very few actresses make a decent living acting full-time.

“You need to diversify your skills,” she says.

Due to that, she has earned a degree in producing from the Akademi Seni Budaya Dan Warisan Kebangsaan (ASWARA).

Using the knowledge she gained from ASWARA, Lim went on to produce a theatre production titled Tanah Akhirku. She wrote the script and acted in the lead role.

The story centres on a group of Chinese immigrants who came to Malaya and made this country their new home. The production received glowing reviews.

“I am a storyteller first, and only then I am an actress and a producer,” she says.

“I simply love telling stories.”

She is currently pursuing her masters in Film Distribution and Marketing at the Beijing Film Academy in China.

She says: “I think we have produced some good films in recent years. But I believe one of our biggest weakness is that we are bad in marketing our films. We need to have good marketing strategies to bring in the audience as well as bring our movie to foreign cinemas.”

Her all-time favourite performance is as the iconic Princess Hang Li Po in the 2014 theatre production Takhta 3 Ratu under the direction of the actress Erma Fatima.

She was extremely happy when the audience showered her with praise for her performance.

“From this production, I learnt that being an actress is not just about walking on the red carpet,” she says.

“An actress’ first job is to touch the hearts of her audience.”