Personal life

Katie Leclerc was born in San Antonio, Texas, and grew up in Lakewood, Colorado. She is the youngest of three siblings. She started learning American Sign Language at 17, before she found out she had a disorder which includes hearing loss. Her older sister also teaches ASL. At age 20, Leclerc was diagnosed with Ménière's disease, a degenerative inner ear disorder, the symptoms of which include fluctuating hearing loss and vertigo. Both her father and older sister have Ménière's disease as well.

She married longtime boyfriend Brian Habecost, a real estate salesman, on September 6, 2014.

Career

Katie Leclerc discovered her passion for acting in seventh grade when she got the lead role in a production of Annie. She then moved to San Diego, to pursue theatre at Valley Center High School. She took part in commercials for Pepsi, Cingular, Comcast, and GE. In 2006, she was in the Rascal Flatts video "What Hurts the Most" as a student in the classroom. She started her television career when she guest-starred on Veronica Mars. Since then, she has acted in many other television shows. Her first main acting role was in the show Switched at Birth, where she plays Daphne Vasquez, a Deaf teenager who was given to the wrong family after birth.

"My agent submitted me for a nationwide casting call for the roles of Emmett and Daphne. I ended up getting a call back, and that’s when I was asked to try a “Deaf accent.” It’s something we discussed in depth. We wanted to make sure my portrayal was respectful and done correctly. At the same time, we felt that using a Deaf accent would be a really strong choice for the character.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Gravy Train	Lydia Faye	Short film
2009	Flying By	Ally
2009	The Inner Circle	Claire
2012	Seven Lanterns	Rachel Hawthorne	Short film
2015	The Ones	Katie	Post-production
2015	Mesmerized	Kate Hawthorne	Post-production
2015	Holiday Breakup	Kelly	Post-production
2016	Stars Are Already Dead	Ireland	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Veronica Mars	Crystal	Episode: "Silence of the Lamb"
2006	Fashion House	Sara	Recurring role (4 episodes)
2007	Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show, TheThe Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show	Tokersville Queen	Episode: "Salute to America"
2007	Saints & Sinners	Bride	Episode: "Dance, Dance Revolution"
2008	Riches, TheThe Riches	Teen Girl	Episode: "Friday Night Lights"
2008	Ex List, TheThe Ex List	Mila	Episode: "Protect and Serve"
2010	Hard Times of RJ Berger, TheThe Hard Times of RJ Berger	Deaf Girl	Episode: "Lily Pad"
2011	Big Bang Theory, TheThe Big Bang Theory	Emily	Episode: "The Wiggly Finger Catalyst"
2011-present	Switched at Birth	Daphne Vasquez	Lead role
2012	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Christine	Episode: "Play Dead"
2013	My Synthesized Life	Amanda	Episodes: "Amanda"; "A Disturbance in the Force"
2013	The Confession	Katie Lapp	TV film
2014	Community	Carol	Episode: "Analysis of Cork-Based Networking"
2015	Cloudy With a Chance of Love	Debbie Metcalfe	TV film
2015	The Reckoning	Katie Lapp/Katherine Mayfield	TV film

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Work	Result	Ref
2011	Teen Choice Awards for Choice Breakout Star	Switched at Birth	Nominated
2013	TwoCents TV Award for Drama Queens	Switched at Birth	Won

[ Source: Wikipedia ]