Michael Lin was born and raised in Taiwan and has had a passion in filmmaking and photography since high school. He moved to New York to study at the School of Visual Art, where he received a MFA in Photography and Video. For his thesis project there, Michael made a documentary called Three Steps, One Bow. The film explores the contrast and tension of Buddhism and commercial tourism in Mt. Wutai; one of the four sacred mountains in China.

Tom in America is his first film.