50 Fun Facts About Switched at Birth

In Switched at Birth, which school lab result hints that Bay Kennish is not her parents' child?

Her blood type is incompatible with both John's and Kathryn's, so the family goes to a geneticist. The tests that follow show a hospital sent two newborn girls home with the wrong families.

In Switched at Birth, which childhood illness left Daphne Vasquez deaf at the age of three?

Meningitis took Daphne's hearing at three, and it also broke up her family. Angelo ordered a DNA test while she was ill and walked out when it showed she was not his daughter.

Which Switched at Birth star played Marty McFly's mother Lorraine in the Back to the Future films?

Lea Thompson plays Kathryn Kennish, the mother who raised Bay. She also stepped behind the camera, directing several episodes of the series, including its hundredth.

Which Switched at Birth actress was the first deaf performer to win an Academy Award?

Marlee Matlin won Best Actress for Children of a Lesser God, her very first film. On the series she plays Melody Bledsoe, Emmett's protective mother and Regina's closest friend.

Which future Elvis star played Toby's best friend Wilke in the first season of Switched at Birth?

Austin Butler had a recurring part as Wilke, who dates Daphne until his father packs him off to boarding school. A decade later he was Oscar-nominated for playing Elvis Presley.

Every Switched at Birth episode, from This Is Not a Pipe to Long Live Love, is named after what?

A work of art names each of the 103 episodes, a nod to Bay's life as a painter. The pilot borrows the caption of René Magritte's famous picture of a pipe.

Switched at Birth pits rich Mission Hills against poorer East Riverside in which metropolitan area?

Kansas City is the setting, and establishing shots show real landmarks such as the Liberty Memorial and Loose Park. East Riverside itself is fictional.

Which Switched at Birth actor, cast as Toby Kennish, played Ryan Evans in High School Musical?

Lucas Grabeel played Ryan, twin brother of Ashley Tisdale's Sharpay. As Toby he keeps the music going, performing with a band and later working as a DJ.

Once the mix-up comes out in Switched at Birth, where do Regina and Daphne Vasquez go to live?

The Kennish guest house becomes home after John and Kathryn learn that Regina is struggling financially. Daphne's grandmother comes too, putting both families on one property.

In Switched at Birth, John Kennish built a chain of car washes after a career in which pro sport?

Baseball made John famous enough that a police officer once let Bay off for spray-painting on learning who her father was. Daphne turns out to have inherited his athletic streak.

Which school for deaf students do Daphne Vasquez and Emmett Bledsoe attend in Switched at Birth?

Carlton is where Daphne stars at basketball and where Bay later enrolls in a program for hearing students. Toby ends up naming his baby son after it.

Which painter is the particular favorite of young street artist Bay Kennish in Switched at Birth?

Frida Kahlo is the idol of a girl whose own gift for painting turns out to come from Regina, the biological mother she had never met.

Switched at Birth opened with what was then the highest-rated series debut on which TV network?

ABC Family drew 3.3 million viewers for the premiere. By the time the fifth and final season aired, the channel had been renamed Freeform.

Which Breaking Bad actor plays Campbell, a pre-med student in a wheelchair, in Switched at Birth?

RJ Mitte, who was Walter White Jr. in Breaking Bad, joined in the third season. Campbell is a former snowboarder paralyzed in an accident on the slopes, and he ends another relationship to pursue Daphne.

In Switched at Birth, what does Emmett Bledsoe's mother insist he sell to pay off his fine?

His motorcycle is Emmett's pride, so Bay and Daphne team up to try to save it. They fail, and he offers one last ride, which Daphne lets Bay take.

The Kennishes win their Switched at Birth case against the hospital, but what sum are they awarded?

A single dollar is all the Kennishes receive, while Angelo wins five million from the same hospital in a case of his own. Toby points out that half of that now legally belongs to Regina.

In Switched at Birth, Regina marries Angelo to stop a judge deporting him to which country?

Italy wants Angelo over an old assault warrant, so Regina marries him on the very day a judge orders him out. The marriage later entitles her to half of his money.

For Bay's sixteenth birthday in Switched at Birth, where does Emmett secretly display her artwork?

On a billboard, exactly as Bay had wished. Emmett unveils it by blindfolding her with the scarf he gave her as a present, and the stunt later gets him arrested.

Which Switched at Birth character from Daphne's old neighborhood dates Bay, then joins the army?

Ty Mendoza is like an older brother to Daphne, which makes his romance with Bay awkward. He serves in Afghanistan and comes back in season two struggling to readjust.

Bay dumps Emmett at prom in Switched at Birth after he admits sleeping with which ex-friend of hers?

Simone was dating Toby at the time, so one night at a basketball tournament cost Emmett both his girlfriend and his friendship with her brother.

What is the name of Toby Kennish's band, with Emmett on drums, in season one of Switched at Birth?

Guitar Face pairs Toby with his friend Wilke, and Emmett first sits in as a stand-in drummer. Toby later sells his band equipment to help clear a gambling debt.

In Switched at Birth, what in a locked case proves to Daphne that Regina long knew of the switch?

Photos of Bay, gathered over the years by a private investigator Regina hired, fill the case. Daphne gets it open on working out that the lock's code is BAY.

For Emmett's birthday in Switched at Birth, Bay and Daphne team up to shoot a film in which genre?

A zombie movie, performed in sign language and later titled Dawn of the Deaf, is their gift. Emmett and Daphne go on to enter it in a film festival.

In Switched at Birth, what does Kathryn Kennish publish about the mix-up, with help from Regina?

A memoir of the switch is Kathryn's project, urged on by a publisher played by Shelley Long. It backfires at trial, where she is called to testify for the hospital's side because of what she wrote.

Which habit lands Toby Kennish in debt to his friend Wilke in the first season of Switched at Birth?

Playing poker leaves Toby so deep in debt that he enlists Daphne and Emmett to help him win, then joins a scheme to steal a chemistry test for cash.

In Switched at Birth, who admits that she reported the fugitive Angelo Sorrento to police?

Regina's mother Adriana had taken a strong dislike to Angelo, and her call got him arrested. Bay had suspected John and Kathryn of turning him in.

Daphne's secret Switched at Birth romance with her boss Jeff Reycraft begins while she works where?

In a restaurant kitchen, where Jeff is the chef and Daphne starts out demoted to washing dishes. The affair ends with both their jobs in jeopardy and a punch from Angelo.

Which actress, once April Nardini in Gilmore Girls, plays Bay Kennish in Switched at Birth?

Vanessa Marano began acting professionally at seven. Her mother took her to the agent she thought most likely to turn children down, and the agent signed her anyway.

Which Switched at Birth actress played Angie, the wife of George Lopez's character, in his sitcom?

Constance Marie plays Regina Vasquez and is one of the show's four fluent signers. An on-set expert made sure they all signed in a similar dialect.

Which winner of America's Next Top Model plays Bay's suitor Garrett in Switched at Birth?

Nyle DiMarco was the modeling contest's first deaf champion, and a year later he won a celebrity ballroom show too. Garrett is a friend of Travis with a reputation as a player.

Before a wrist condition ends that career, what is Regina Vasquez's trade in Switched at Birth?

Hair stylist was Regina's living until osteonecrosis was found in her wrist, which also stopped her signing and painting. She later reinvents herself as an interior decorator.

Which business does Daphne Vasquez launch with Travis's help in season two of Switched at Birth?

A food truck gives Daphne a business of her own, though John keeps trying to make its decisions for her. It is later robbed, and Travis refuses to identify the thief to police.

In Switched at Birth, which elected office does car-wash owner John Kennish run for in season two?

State senator is the job Kathryn urges John to seek, as a Republican. His campaign wobbles when her radio remarks on immigration are turned into an attack ad.

In the Switched at Birth episode Ecce Mono, John dreams another reality while suffering what?

A heart attack fells John moments after he tells Regina he will never forgive her, and she saves him with CPR. In the dream she reveals the switch at once, and he wakes grateful to her.

After the blackmail scandal in Switched at Birth, where is Daphne ordered to do community service?

A free clinic takes Daphne in after she and her boyfriend Jace exposed a corrupt politician by blackmail. Jace, who is British, was deported over it.

Toby's Switched at Birth marriage ends when his wife Nikki takes a permanent job in which country?

Peru is where Nikki goes as a missionary soon after the couple elope, and she decides to stay. Toby answers with a soul-searching trip of his own, to Iceland.

Which sport do Bay and Daphne play on a new school team in season three of Switched at Birth?

Field hockey needs Bay just to make up the numbers, and she later stays on because it looks good to colleges. The rivalry with her old school, Buckner, soon turns heated.

In Switched at Birth, what does the hospital find caused the car crash that kills Angelo Sorrento?

A brain aneurysm struck Angelo at the wheel after a furious argument with Regina, and Daphne blames her for it. His will asked that he be taken off life support.

Which hobby does Kathryn Kennish secretly take up in Switched at Birth, where she befriends Renzo?

Tap dancing is an impulse after an unhelpful therapy session leaves Kathryn wandering the streets. John later wins her back by staging a dance number with the whole family.

At the end of season three of Switched at Birth, why does Bay Kennish end up on probation?

She covered for Daphne, falsely confessing to vandalism so that Daphne's existing record would not sink her future. It cost Bay her planned move west with Emmett.

Which profession does Daphne set her heart on in Switched at Birth after saving a stabbing victim?

Doctor becomes Daphne's goal after her quick thinking saves her supervisor, who had been stabbed with scissors. A professor later tells her she will never make it, and she pushes on anyway.

Bay and Daphne begin the final season of Switched at Birth after ten months living in which country?

China was meant to be a summer trip, but Bay fell seriously ill early on and talked Daphne into staying for the school year. A phone call about an emergency at home ends it.

Which new career does the painter Bay Kennish take up in the final season of Switched at Birth?

Tattoo artist is the job Bay chooses to stay home for when the series ends, telling her boyfriend that she has only just started her new career.

In the Switched at Birth finale, Travis asks Bay to follow him to which country for his sports job?

Japan offers Travis a professional contract after a fight gets him thrown off his college team. Bay stays behind, trusting that the two of them can survive the distance.

Which boyfriend, son of John Kennish's ex-business manager, does Daphne end Switched at Birth with?

Mingo, whose real name is Greg Shimingo, learns to sign for Daphne before they split and later reunite. John holds his father responsible for the family's financial ruin.

Switched at Birth is set in the Midwest, but in and around which city was the series filmed?

Los Angeles and nearby Santa Clarita, Pasadena and Beverly Hills stood in for the suburbs, with real skyline footage cut in for establishing shots.

Switched at Birth's episode Uprising honored the Deaf President Now protest at which university?

Gallaudet students shut down their campus in 1988 until a deaf president was appointed. Uprising aired 25 years later and echoes it with a student protest told almost entirely in sign language.

Which broadcasting honor, presented by the University of Georgia, did Switched at Birth win?

A Peabody Award recognized the series in 2013. The Television Critics Association had already given it its prize for outstanding achievement in youth programming.

Katie Leclerc, who plays Daphne in Switched at Birth, has which condition that causes hearing loss?

Ménière's disease runs in Leclerc's family, and she had learned to sign at 17, before her diagnosis. The writers gave the same condition to Noah, a classmate of Bay.

Which screenwriter of the surfing film Blue Crush created Switched at Birth and wrote its pilot?

Lizzy Weiss created the series and served as its executive producer, work that won her a Gracie Award for outstanding producer in 2012.