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ABC Family. The show's stars pictured from left to right, Lea Thompson, Vanessa Marano, Marlee Matlin, Katie Leclerc and Constance Marie.
BURBANK, Calif. -- ABC Family’s new one-hour scripted drama, “Switched at Birth,” tells the story of two teenage girls who discover they were accidentally switched as newborns in the hospital.
Bay Kennish grew up in a wealthy family with two parents and a brother, while Daphne Vasquez, who lost her hearing at an early age due to a case of meningitis, grew up with a single mother in a working class neighborhood. Things come to a dramatic head when both families meet and struggle to learn how to live together for the sake of the girls.
“Switched at Birth” premieres on ABC Family on Monday, June 6 at 9:00PM ET/PT, following an all-new episode of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager.”
John and Kathryn Kennish have led the “perfect” life – he a retired professional athlete and she a stay-at-home mom, having together raised their two children, Bay and Toby, in an idyllic neighborhood. But their world is turned upside down when they learn there was a mistake at the hospital and Bay is not their birth child.
Bay discovers in her high school chemistry class that her blood type does not appear to match either of her parents’, and official tests confirm the life-altering news.
The family meets Regina Vasquez and her daughter, Daphne. A single mom, Regina has worked hard to take care of Daphne, a member of her school’s basketball team, and a typical teenager in every way except that she is deaf. Daphne lives with her mother and grandmother, and attends her deaf and hard of hearing school with her best friend, Emmett.
The girls struggle to keep their footing in the world they know and the new one into which they have both been thrown. Both questioning their identities — Bay, a rebellious and talented street artist, is fascinated to learn that her birth mother, Regina, is also an artistic type; Daphne’s love of sports is shared with her birth father, John, once a professional baseball player.
When financial difficulties arise for Regina, she accepts the Kennishes’ offer that she, Daphne and Daphne’s grandmother all live in the Kennishes’ guest house, giving everyone a chance to get to know each another. Academy Award®-winner Marlee Matlin will guest star in several episodes this season as Melody, a school counselor who is Regina’s best friend and mother to Emmett.
“Switched at Birth” is executive-produced by Lizzy Weiss (“Blue Crush”), Paul Stupin (“Make It or Break It”) and John Ziffren (“Melissa & Joey,” “Make It or Break It”). The series also stars newcomer Katie Leclerc as Daphne Vasquez; Vanessa Marano (“Gilmore Girls”) as Bay Kennish; Constance Marie (“George Lopez”) as Regina Vasquez; D.W. Moffett (“Friday Night Lights”) as John Kennish; Lea Thompson (“Back to the Future,” “Caroline in the City”) as Kathryn Kennish; Lucas Grabeel (“High School Musical”) as Toby Kennish; and newcomer Sean Berdy as Emmett.
