Switched at Birth is an American television drama series centering on Bay Kennish and Daphne Vasquez, who at the age of 15 learn that they were switched at birth. The wealthy Kennish family must struggle with the fact that their biological daughter is deaf from having meningitis as a child and must accept the character of working-class, recovering alcoholic Regina Vasquez, Daphne's single "mother". Bay and Daphne attempt to find out how their lives would have been if they hadn't been switched. The one-hour-long series premiered on June 6, 2011.
Main characters
Daphne Paloma Vasquez-Kennish Played by Katie Leclerc, Daphne Paloma Vasquez-Kennish (born Bay Madeline Kennish) is the legal daughter of Regina Vasquez and Angelo Sorrento and biological daughter of John and Kathryn Kennish. Daphne lost her hearing at a young age due to a bad case of meningitis. It is mentioned in the episode "Portrait of My Father" that Daphne's father abandoned her and Regina when she was little. It is later revealed that Angelo left upon learning that Daphne was not his biological daughter. She was raised by Regina, a single mother, with help from Regina's mother Adriana. In the pilot episode, Daphne and her mother learn of the switch and move into the Kennishes' guest house after experiencing financial difficulty. Daphne, like her biological father, shows a strong interest in athletics and sports throughout the series. She is also shown to be a vegetarian. At age eight, Daphne became best friends with future classmate Emmett Bledsoe after he defended her from school yard bullies.
Daphne has many love interests throughout the series, including Bay's ex-boyfriend Liam Lupo (with whom she breaks up on Bay's request), Toby's friend Wilkie, former employer Jeff Reycraft, Travis, Jace, Jorge, Campbell and her current love interest, Mingo.
In the second season, after learning that her high school is being faced with closure, Daphne organizes a rally and succeeds in keeping Carlton's doors open. Later, Daphne's relationship with her mother struggles after Regina reveals her preference to live with Bay, over her. Frustrated at her mother's decision to live with Bay and Angelo, Daphne jumps into a relationship with Jace, a guy who works in John's office. Together, they get caught up in the blackmailing of a United States Senator, ending the Senator's career and marriage. After breaking up with Jace, Daphne finds herself charged with blackmail and facing potential jail time.
In the opening of the third season, it is shown that Daphne is serving her sentence performing public service at a local free clinic. At the clinic, she befriends Campbell, a wheelchair-using pre-med student paralyzed from a snowboarding accident. She also runs into trouble at school, facing conflict with a new-hearing girl named Sharee, who was taken on as part of Carlton's bid to stay open by opening its doors to hearing kids.
After taking up field hockey to impress John (with whom she feels she has grown apart since being charged with blackmail), Daphne befriends Sharee. There is tension between the two at first, but after bonding over field hockey the two become friends. After finding out that Sharee's mother is severely mentally ill, they conspire to bring her into the clinic to be diagnosed under the pretense of Sharee getting a flu shot. After the psychologist is late to arrive, Sharee's mother lashes out, stabbing Daphne's boss with a pair of scissors. Daphne successfully saves Doctor Jay, leading her to consider a career in medicine.
While working at the clinic, Daphne finds herself the focus of the attentions of Campbell and her supervisor Jorge. After talking to Bay, Daphne decides not to act on her feelings for Campbell as he already has a girlfriend. She instead, accepts a date with Jorge, which turns awry when she faces criticism from his sister over her blackmailing of Senator Coto. After walking out of her date, she meets Campbell to shoot hoops, where he confesses his feelings for her, in spite of him being involved with someone else. Daphne, although admitting that she likes him, rebuffs his advances. Later, Daphne is seen kissing Jorge by Campbell, who then informs her that he has broken up with his girlfriend for her, leaving Daphne conflicted. Daphne, upon learning it is Campbell's 21st birthday, decides to throw him a surprise party. Upon seeing how much attention Daphne pays Campbell, Jorge ends their relationship, causing tension in their working relationship.
After much deliberation, Daphne finally decides it is Campbell she wants to be with. Despite initial tension, the two finally get together. However, after Daphne is offered a paid position in the Clinic, her relationship with Campbell starts to deteriorate. He is jealous over the fact that he has been in the Clinic longer, but he was never offered a paid position. After following through with Daphne's suggestion to ask Dr. J for a paid position, Campbell obtains a paid position. However, this position is in another clinic on the other side of town, so Campbell tells Daphne that they might not be seeing each other often.
Throughout season 3, the relationship between Angelo and Daphne improves significantly after Daphne asked him to learn sign language as to be able to communicate to each other more effectively. Due to Regina's project at East Riverside, Daphne and Angelo became increasingly worried for her safety. One night, after learning to shoot using a gun by Wes, Regina almost shot Daphne when she heard some noises at her store. That resulted in a heated argument between Angelo and Regina at the store. Angelo left the store full of anger and drove off. Then, Angelo swirled off the road, ending up in the hospital. The next day, Daphne was to retake her SAT examination to improve her score to get into a better medical school. She was unable to focus and left before she finished her exam as Angelo's condition was deteriorating. Unfortunately, Angelo was pronounced brain dead. The family decided to pull the plug on his life support after reading his will stating that if he were to be in a vegetative state, he wished to be let off life support. After learning that Angelo had a brain aneurysm while driving which may have occurred due to stress and anger, Daphne blamed Regina for his death. In the months following Angelo's death, Daphne's grief compels her to act out. She rebels against her parents, and is caught vandalizing Wes' construction property. She is later arrested for vandalism. To protect Daphne, who already has a criminal record, Bay takes responsibility for the crime.
Daphne goes to college and studies to become a doctor at UMKC. In the episode "Borrowing Your Enemy's Arrows" Daphne Introduces Mingo to John and Kathryn. His full name is Greg Shimingo, and John and Kathryn are in shock to find out that Greg's dad is Larry Shimingo, one of John's political rivals.
Mingo starts learning ASL to communicate with Daphne better and it increases their close bond but after Daphne kisses another guy in Mexico things start to spiral downwards and they end up breaking up so Daphne can go to China.
After living in China for a year with Bay and Travis they come home. Once home Daphne returns to school to find out that Mingo is now in a relationship. Daphne struggles a bit in school and thinks about quitting trying to be a Doctor as she know that being deaf will make it extra hard but after talking with family and friends she decides that she will still try to be a Doctor. In the end Daphne and Mingo get back together.
Bay Madeline Kennish-Vasquez Played by Vanessa Marano, Bay Madeline Kennish-Vasquez (born Daphne Paloma Vasquez) is the rebellious legal daughter of John and Kathryn Kennish; and biological daughter of Regina Vasquez and Angelo Sorrento. Bay is often bratty, which tends to lead to most of the conflicts within the series, especially with her boyfriends and Daphne. She is shown to be a talented graffiti artist. In the pilot episode, Bay, upon learning that she does not share the same blood type as either of her parents, visits a geneticist with her parents. It is then that they are informed that there was a mix up with two babies at the hospital, and that John and Kathryn are not her biological parents. The discovery of the switch leads Bay to question her entire upbringing, resulting in her breaking up with her boyfriend, Liam and getting arrested for attempting to buy beer with a fake ID. That got her punished by her parents.
She becomes attracted to Ty, who is an old friend of Daphne, and briefly dates him in the first season before he leaves for the army. They continue their relationship in the second season when he returns. The relationship ends again when Ty pretends to have cheated on Bay then soon after leaves for the army again. Upon being caught sneaking around with Ty, her parents invite him around for dinner, during which, Ty accidentally lets slip that he has enlisted in the army. On his last night in town, the two almost sleep together, but Bay refuses and departs in tears.
Curious about her biological father, Bay sets out to search for him with help from Emmett. They are eventually reunited. She grows closer with her biological mother and father, even moving in with the two of them at one point. Bay is the first to find out that Angelo got another woman pregnant and now has another daughter as a result of a one-night stand.
After Ty's departure, Bay begins a relationship with Daphne's deaf best friend, Emmett, after he assists her in her search for Angelo. The two have a turbulent relationship due to their differences, but remain together, even after experiencing a number of setbacks including Bay's past relationship with Ty, Emmett's disapproving mother and the language barrier between them. Toward the end of the first season, Bay breaks up with Emmett after she finds out at prom that he slept with Simone her old friend. Following her break up with Emmett, Bay comes home from her summer trip with a new boyfriend. However, things do not last long between them after it becomes clear that Bay is still not over Emmett. Her feelings become more complicated when she sees a mural Emmett painted depicting their relationship, leading to her breaking it off with Alex.
After her initial break up with Emmett, Bay finds that she is immersing herself more and more in her street art, resulting in an unlikely friendship with a fellow artist by the name of Zarra. This friendship causes Bay to rebel against John and Kathryn to the point of her almost running away with Zarra to Mexico. She is stopped before leaving and brought home by Emmett and John. In the second season, Bay meets Noah, a fellow hearing student at Carlton. A short romance ensues, but Bay breaks up with Noah when she realizes that he has feelings for Daphne.
Ty returns in the second half of season two, resulting in their resuming their relationship. Bay expresses concern for Ty's mental well-being following his time serving in Afghanistan. The two eventually reconnect, sleeping together for the first time. Bay lose her virginity to Ty. However, in the season two finale, Ty, about to be recalled to the army, lies to Bay about sleeping with someone else after she finds girl's underwear on his bedroom floor, in an effort to save her from further hurt. In season three, Ty is shown to not be responding to any of Bay's efforts to contact him. However, when he finally does message her, Bay, determined to move on, deletes the message without responding. Bay eventually discovers Ty's lie, but remains adamant to move on with her life. In season 2–3, Daphne became rebellious and troublemaker and Bay became the good one and straight man.