Lea Katherine Thompson (born May 31, 1961) is an American actress, 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 for which she is known include All the Right Moves (1983), Red Dawn (1984), Howard the Duck (1986), Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), and The Beverly Hillbillies (1993). From 2011 to 2017, she co-starred as Kathryn Kennish in the ABC Family-turned Freeform series Switched at Birth.