Daily Inspiration: Meet Kevin Lin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Lin.

Hi Kevin, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started in the industry doing modeling work up in Seattle around high school and college. It wasn’t much though, about 2 jobs a year or so. It was something I did on the side mostly for fun. But over time, as I did more commercial work, I began to fall in love with the little bit of acting that was required of me in these commercials. I graduated from college and honestly didn’t have much of an idea about what I wanted to pursue. I landed in the finance industry for a while, but I was very unfulfilled and eventually was fired from my job. Without any other plan, I decided to fulfill my secret dream to move to LA and pursue acting full-time. That was around the end of 2015, I packed a car full of my things and stayed with an acquaintance for two months while I got on my feet. I got really lucky and was cast in a short film just a year after I moved down, and from there I got a great manager who helped me find a great agent and now I’m just working on my craft and auditioning as much as I can. I’m very grateful to be where I am today but it definitely continues to be a challenge.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It was smoother earlier on, though a bit more chaotic. But I welcomed the chaos. There was a lot of excitement and discovery and newness. Now I’m getting into my eighth year being in LA and it’s definitely worn me down quite a bit. There’s been a lot of struggles personally and financially, but I’ve been pretty physically healthy through it all so I’m very grateful for that. I think being in a city like LA you have to really deal with who you are as a person, the good and bad, and if you don’t grow and change with the tide, you get left behind very quickly. I’m still in that struggle now but I’m definitely coming out better for it as the years go on and I continue to pursue my dream.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m an actor first. Monday, directed by Dinh Thai, was my first ever real job as an actor and it’s what gave me my entrance onto the Hollywood stage. Since then I’ve been on a couple of shows, Grey’s Anatomy as a one-day guest star and Good Trouble where I appear in several episodes. Good Trouble was also probably some of the more challenging work I’ve done so far, so I’m pretty proud of having given that character a good effort. I’ve also worked for years in production, starting as a PA to now coordinating on commercials and also producing small passion projects on the side. I’m pretty proud of a short film that I produced recently, where I had the chance to really run the whole show and even get my feet wet as a director on some of the days. With that said, I think if there’s anything that sets me apart, it’s the experience I have now in all aspects of telling a story through film, from the accounting to the camera/lights, to directing, and of course, to the acting.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
That the hearts of the people are not moved by what’s objectively factual and learning to understand that while continuing to exist and live happily is very important. In other words, I learned that I could use a lot more patience and empathy in my character.

Contact Info:

• Website: kevindavidlin.com
• Instagram: kevindavidlin

Image Credits
Robert Mark Enger, Somlit, JeanPaul SanPedro