Jinny Leem has had an extensive career and experience prior to joining the LA Opera. She performed as part of an ensemble, playing choral works and chamber music since the age of ten. She attended the Wells Cathedral School in England where she won several first prizes at the Bath Festival Competition and performed at London's Southbank with her piano trio. She also appeared on the BBC with Yehudi Menuhin when she went on to attend The Yehudi Menuhin School. As a teenager, she moved to Philadelphia to study with Jascha Brodsky at Temple Music Prep, where she became the orchestra's concertmaster. She continued her studies at The Curtis Institute of Music with Jascha Brodsky, Yumi Ninomiya Scott, and chamber music with Felix Galimir. While attending Curtis, she started the first of her thirteen seasons with The Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as performing in its chamber series and substituting for The Metropol! itan Opera Orchestra. She was also the concertmaster for the Charlotte Symphony in North Carolina for two seasons before moving to New York City to pursue non-musical endeavors.

She relocated to Los Angeles with her husband in the summer of 2007 and shortly after won the audition for the LA Opera.