10 Facts about Katie LeClerc You Didn’t Know

written by: DominicA

Katie Leclerc, the gorgeous American actress has captured the hearts of many, thanks to her impeccable portrayal of a deaf teenager, Daphne Vasquez in ABC Family’s Switched at Birth.

The world has already seen what an amazing actress she is. But did you know that Katie LeClerc wanted to be a chemist when she was young?!

Read more about that below along with some more interesting and fun facts about Katie LeClerc.

Quite similar to her character Daphne in Switch at Birth, even in real life Katie LeClerc is deaf, thought intermittently. She suffers from Ménière’s disease that causes irregular hearing loss and vertigo. Her older sister and father also suffer from Ménière’s disease.

Katie is fluent in American Sign Language. She learned this language much before being diagnosed with hearing disorder. Her older sister also teaches ASL.
You should all know that @Blair_Redford has major ASL skills! His Signs are smooth #LikeHotButter #SwitchedAtBirth pic.twitter.com/h9gNQAmpcV
— Katie Leclerc (@katieleclerc) June 20, 2013

As Ménière’s disease was diagnosed only when she was 20, Katie had learned and developed normal speaking skills by then (like in the case of people who don’t suffer from hearing loss). But she uses fake deaf accent in Switched at Birth to keep her portrayal as close to reality. To prepare for the role of Daphne, who is shown deaf from the age of three, Katie underwent training and worked really hard on her accent so that she sounds authentic.

Katestar, Katearoo, and Katie Did are some of her pet names. She was also nicknamed as Monster Baby because she never cried, only snarled!

She didn’t always wanted to be an actress. When Katie was young, she wanted to become a chemist because ‘I wanted to make small explosions’. Later she wished to become an English professor as she loves reading and then a marine biologist because she loved ocean!

She discovered her love for acting when she was in 7th grade as she got the lead role in theatre production, Annie.

Her first job was at a coffee shop in Los Angeles where she worked for 5 years! What’s with actors and coffee shops?

Did you know that Katie had appeared in one of the episodes of the hugely popular sitcom, The Big Bang Theory? Katie played the role of Penny’s (Kaley Cuoco) deaf friend, Emily. Commenting on her role, Katie said, “This is such a departure from the character I play on Switched at Birth. It was cool to play someone who really is unapologetic and just sort of goes for what she wants.”

Katie had adopted a deaf dog! Yes! Katie and her boyfriend adopted a deaf dog but they weren’t aware of his impairment. Later when there was no response to their calls, did they realize their dog is deaf.

But, not to get bogged down so easily, Katie taught her beloved dog sign language too!

She not only strongly supports differently abled people but is also a pro anti bullying activist. In one of her interviews she had confessed of being horribly bullied by few girls in her school. To show her support on this cause, she had also contributed designs for anti-bullying t-shirts.

Author Bio
A media blogger and creative writer, the author loves digging juicy gossip and all the latest news in the entertainment world. In her free time, she loves to catch up latest movies, sitcoms and reality shows.