임설

In the mid‑eighties he got found work on movie sets through the help of friends. He performed many different roles, from lighting and props to stage manager and set and script supervisor.

Lam gradually developed an interest in acting and, by his own account, pestered various directors until they relented and gave him tiny roles. There are two pivotal people in Lam's acting career. The first is Stephen Chow, who befriended him in his early days as a crew member and cast him in films such as The God of Cookery (1996) and Kung Fu Hustle.

The second person is director Johnnie To. Lam has appeared in over 80 films since 1996 and at least 20 of those have been directed or produced by To.

Known for his weight and size, his roles are often those of a bumbling secondary character who provides comic relief amid the intense nature of To's films. He is perhaps best known for his various supporting roles in To's films, notably as the bumbling taxi driver Yip in the award‑winning film Breaking News (2004).

The most notable To–Lam collaborations include The Mission, which earned Lam Best Supporting Actor nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Golden Horse Awards, and PTU. Lam was nominated for a Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actor and won the Golden Bauhinia Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in PTU. He has also had memorable roles in movies like Wu Yen (2001), as the effeminate prime minister, and in Diva — Ah Hey (2003), in which he played Charlene Choi's loving and supportive father. Lam has been married for almost a decade; his wife is 10 years his junior and is from the same hometown.