BWW Interviews: Vanessa Marano Talks Learning and Growing on SWITCHED AT BIRTH

Vanessa Marano stars on ABC Family's SWITCHED AT BIRTH, a thought-provoking family drama about two girls who were sent home with the wrong parents thanks to a mix-up at the hospital and the chaos that unfolds when they discover the truth fifteen years later. She portrays rebellious teen artist, Bay Kennish, who struggles to find her place in a family and community that favors her deaf "switchster," Daphne Vasquez.

Marano spoke exclusively with BWW about her spunky and sarcastic character, who struggles to navigate her unconventional situation and the typical trials of being a teenager.

Hey, Vanessa! Can you talk a little bit about where Bay is at in her personal journey when SWITCHED picks back up tonight (June 10) after the mid-season break?

Absolutely! Bay's a character who always felt like she didn't really belong in her family. When she found out about the switch she was like, 'oh, great! It all finally makes sense.' But it seems like everybody, including her biological mom and the parents who raised her, kind of gravitated towards the other girl (Daphne) because she's a little bit easier to deal with. Bay's kind of difficult personality-wise, but that's why we love her. She's spent her whole life just yearning for someone to understand her and someone to support her and accept her for who she is. And she's come a long way since the pilot episode. She's finally at a place where she doesn't exactly back down from being an outcast, which is great. We're picking up this season in the summer after Bay kind of inserted herself into the deaf school that her fellow switchster was going to. The deaf kids were very vocal about not wanting hearing kids at the school and her switchster Daphne did not support her, and did not stick up for her. Bay's not too happy about that. Old Bay would have been throwing a lot of temper tantrums about it. New Bay is asserting herself into a summer job. We have an old love interest, Ty (Blair Redford), returning. So, she's kind of distracting herself in that way. However, nothing can really make the underlying... what felt like a betrayal from Daphne feel right until Daphne does something to make it right.

Bay obviously has a lot on her plate. Along with the typical teen woes like boyfriend drama and break-ups, she has this whole crazy situation with her family to deal with and the fallout from her decision to attend the deaf school. Do you think you could handle everything she has to go through?

It's interesting, because I feel like I'm so different from Bay. We obviously have similar cadences to our speech because we are essentially the same person in that way. And we're kind of sarcastic and we both like the dark colors. But that's the extent of it. Our personalities are very different. The way we deal with social situations is very different. I actually don't know if I could handle the situation as well as Bay has handled it, being who she is. Being who I am, I would've just handled it in a different way. Not necessarily a better way, but not necessarily a worse way either.

Now, before the break, SWITCHED aired the first episode of mainstream television that was shot entirely in American Sign Language.

Yeah, we were the first show to ever do that and it was really cool. The episode was entirely in sign language and there were only two scenes where there was vocalization, but those scenes were still signed. It was a very difficult episode to shoot because there was a lot riding on it. It had never been done before and ABC Family was so great, they were so fearless to let it happen. I feel like any other network would have been like, 'you want to do a mostly silent episode and a totally signed episode? No. There's no way we're doing that.' ABC Family was like, 'yeah, we're gonna do it. Let's make it happen! It's never been done before? We'll be the first.' It will never be done again until somebody takes that first step, and we took that first step.

How did you react when you found out you were going to be a part of that?

Oh, I was freaking out. I was like, 'oh my god, I have to learn so much more sign language than I usually do.' [laughs] I was literally freaking out. I think everybody was, because it had never been done before, nobody had been in that situation before. The interpreters had never been in that situation, the deaf actors, our director, our crew. We're really the first show that used sign language and deaf actors as much as humanly possible. So, to do something that was entirely in sign language was even different for us.

Has it been hard for you to learn the sign language?

Yeah. I didn't know I was going to sign so early. I didn't know I was going to sign at all. After like six episode they were like, 'you're learning sign language now!' Constance (Marie), who plays Regina, had to come into the pilot fluent and she had never done sign language before. So, she had a much harder journey than I had. Thankfully I didn't have to pretend to be fluent. I've gotten to learn along with my character, which is nice, and it's kind of fun to play those scenes of what I didn't understand and what signs I didn't know. Also, to kind of track that journey and that character growth to the point where Bay's at now, where Bay's pretty fluent. The sucky part about that is that Bay is way more fluent than Vanessa is [laughs].

You said that you're very different from Bay, so what is it that you really love about her?

I love that Bay's difficult to love. I think that's what's really awesome about her and super real about her, and is actually endearing. It's that you don't like Bay right away. She has to grow on you. And what grows on you is the fact that she wants to be loved, but she's not needy about it. She refuses to be needy, even though she craves it so much. And I like that about her, I like that she's not perfect. I like that she's snarky at times. I like that she's super jerky sometimes, because it makes times when she's sweet and endearing that much more awesome and you're more appreciative of them.

And it's more realistic if she's not lovable all the time.

Right, exactly. It makes you feel, as an audience member and especially as an actor, that the character is growing, that the character is learning and you're very proud of that. And you pick up the struggle, which I think is the whole reason we watch movies and television in the first place.

Well, I can't wait to see her learn and grow even more this season! Best of luck to you and I'll have my fingers crossed for a Season 3.

In the mid-season premiere of Switched at Birth, Regina returns from rehab and tries to transition back to life at the Kennish house, in the summer premiere of "Switched at Birth," airing Monday, June 10 at 8:00PM ET/PT on ABC Family. The premiere follows a "Switched at Birth" marathon, starting at 2:00PM ET/PT. The groundbreaking drama was recently honored with a Peabody Award.

While Regina has been away at rehab, Daphne has grown closer to the Kennish family, spending her days at their country club and her nights in their guest room. This new family dynamic does not sit well with Regina, who unexpectedly returns home early in hopes of spending more time with Daphne. Bay begrudgingly starts working at her dad's office and, when her car breaks down near a local carnival, runs into her ex-boyfriend, Ty (guest star Blair Redford, "The Lying Game"), who has returned from serving in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Travis talks Emmett into bringing some girls over to the house while Melody is out of town, and Kathryn's elaborate ideas for Toby and Nikki's rehearsal dinner rubs Nikki the wrong way.

For more information about "Switched at Birth," visit http://beta.abcfamily.go.com/shows/switched-at-birth.

About Vanessa Marano:

Vanessa Marano started acting in the theater when she was seven years old, performing in numerous plays at A.C.T. in Agoura Hills, California. She began her professional career with several national commercials and modeling in magazines. Currently Marano is playing Bay Kennish, the artistic and edgy teenager in the Television Critics Award-winning show, "Switched at Birth."

Marano is most recognized for her roles as April, the daughter of Luke, in the highly popular "Gilmore Girls," and as Francesca, the daughter of the Emmy(r) Award-winning Lisa Kudrow, in the HBO Original series "The Comeback." Recently she starred in "Scoundrels" as the scheming, school-skipping daughter of Virginia Madsen. Marano has had recurring roles in shows including "Dexter," "Without a Trace," "Medium," "Trust Me" and "The Young and The Restless." Guest-starring credits include "Grey's Anatomy," "Private Practice," "Parenthood," "Medium," "Love Bites," "Ghost Whisperer," "Past Life," "Six Feet Under," "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Grounded for Life."

Marano starred as a young girl who became a quadriplegic in the critically acclaimed television movie, "The Brooke Ellison Story," directed by Christopher Reeve, and worked with Lucy Liu on a miniseries playing the troubled foster teenager, Immy, in "Marry Me." Her first film was the animated hit "Finding Nemo," followed by the independent films "Easy," "The Clique," "Stopping Power," "Dear Lemon Lima" and, most recently, "The Secret Lives of Dorks." She starred in the recent Lifetime movie "Restless Virgins," based on the sex Scandal that rocked renowned Massachusetts prep school Milton Academy.

Marano speaks Italian and is enrolled in her sophomore year in college. She is also an ambassador for the Christopher Reeve Foundation.