Her father, Henry Huan Lin, was a ceramist and former dean of the school of Art at Ohio University, and her mother, a poetess, was a professor of English Literature at Ohio University.

父亲林桓是一名陶艺家，曾担任俄亥俄大学美术学院院长；母亲是一位诗人，曾是俄亥俄大学英语文学系教授。