Lea Katherine Thompson is an American actress, television director, and television producer. She is best known for her role as Lorraine Baines in the Back to the Future trilogy and as the title character in the 1990s NBC sitcom Caroline in the City. Other films she is known for include All the Right Moves, The Beverly Hillbillies, Howard the Duck, Jaws 3D, Red Dawn, and Some Kind of Wonderful. Since 2011 she has costarred as Kathryn Kennish in the ABC Family series Switched at Birth.
Thompson was born in Rochester, Minnesota, one of five children of Clifford and Barbara Barry Thompson. Her mother is of Irish descent.
Source: Wikipedia