TV SERIES · 2011– · USA
Switched at Birth
18 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
18 Interesting Facts About Switched at Birth
Interesting Facts (13)
- #001
In Switched at Birth, Vanessa Marano plays Bay, a girl who does a science project and finds out she was switched at birth; in Gilmore Girls, she plays April, a girl who does a science project and finds out Luke Danes is her father.
- #002
Many of the actors playing hearing characters didn't know American Sign Language before they were cast.
- #003
When the show started, Bay (Vanessa Marano) and Daphne (Katie Leclerc) were both meant to be 15, since the premise requires them to share a birthday; in reality Marano was 18 and Leclerc 24, though their birthdays were less than a week apart.
- #004
Meredith Baxter plays Lea Thompson's mother but is only 14 years older than her, and both have played Michael J. Fox's mother: Baxter in Family Ties and Thompson in the Back to the Future trilogy.
- #005
Travis mentions deaf baseball player Dummy Hoy, whom Ryan Lane, the actor playing Travis, had portrayed in the 2007 film I See The Crowd Roar: The Story of William Dummy Hoy.
- #006
In the pilot script, Bay and Toby had an 11-year-old brother named Luke who bonded with Daphne.
- #007
As in the real Twigg/Mays baby switch, which also inspired the TV film Switched at Birth (1991), one of the mothers is named Regina.
- #008
The two main deaf characters are Daphne and Emmett; one actor is deaf in real life, while the other has some hearing loss but grew up hearing.
- #009
According to Lizzy Weiss, season 4 would see one of the characters get pregnant.
- #010
Carlton, Toby's son, takes his name from the deaf school that Emmett and Daphne go to.
- #011
Toby's son Carlton is diagnosed with Down syndrome, a chromosomal condition.
- #012
Ivonne Coll (Adrianna Vasquez) left the show to become a regular on Jane the Virgin (2014).
- #013
It's the second time Lea Thompson has played a Katherine, the first being in SpaceCamp (1986).
Characters & Cast (2)
- #014
Max Lloyd-Jones and Sean Berdy first worked together on The Sandlot 2; Berdy would go on to play Emmett Bledsoe, one of the leads of Switched at Birth, and Lloyd-Jones Noah, a recurring character in season two.
- #015
The opening titles use a font called Chalet Paris 1960, the same one used in the opening and closing titles of Back to the Future, which starred Lea Thompson.
Easter Eggs & References (1)
- #016
The episodes are named after works of art.
Deeper Meaning (1)
- #017
The names Bay and Daphne are interchangeable: the bay is the tree the mythological Daphne turned into while fleeing the god Apollo, so both are common names for the laurel.
Career & Awards (1)
- #018
Melody (Marlee Matlin) objects to Emmett dating Bay because she believes a hearing person can't truly love a deaf person and make it work. In Children of a Lesser God (1986), Matlin's first film, which won her an Academy Award, her character Sarah faced similar disapproval from the deaf community over her relationship with a hearing man.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
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