Kara Tointon (born August 5, 1983 in Basildon, Essex) is a British actress, best known for playing Dawn Swann in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders.

Biography

Tointon is 5ft 5in tall. She was born in Basildon in Essex but shortly afterwards moved to Southend. Her younger sister Hannah is also an actress who potrays Katy Fox in Hollyoaks


Career

Tointon began her acting career at age seven. She had speech and drama lessons at school. She also took part in LAMDA examinations, entering local musical festivals performing poetry recitals.

Her first proper acting experience came when she played the part of Brigitta in The Sound of Music at the Cliffs Pavillion, where she met ex-Busted member James Bourne, who played Kurt. The couple dated on-and-off for seven years. Tointon was said to have dumped Bourne when Busted split up, apparently because Bourne was no longer in a band but both parties have denied this, stating they had split up five months previously due to scheduling conflicts. Shortly after that, her first paid job was as one of the children in the pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Her first appearance on television was as an extra in EastEnders in 1994 when she played a school friend of Sonia Fowler.

In 2004, Tointon appeared in Mile High and in December returned to her former Dream Team role as Gina Moliano until May 2005. It is on the set of Dream Team that she met her former boyfriend Terry Kiely, who played Karl Fletcher in the show. The couple announced their split in the summer of 2006. Tointon is now dating her former EastEnders co-star, James Alexandrou citation needed.


EastEnders

Almost a month to the day that her last Dream Team episode aired, it was revealed to the press that she would be joining the BBC soap EastEnders as a new character, Dawn Swann.


Awards and nominations

In April 2006 she featured as number 27 in the list of 100 sexiest women in the world, voted for the by the readers of FHM magazine and featured as number 86 on the 2007 list. In September 2006 she was voted sexiest female at the Inside Soap Awards. In May 2007, she was nominated for Sexiest Female at the British Soap Awards.


Filmography
EastEnders (2005 - present) - Dawn Swann
America Or Busted (2004) - Herself
The Fete (2004) - Lizzie
The Football Factory (2004) - Shie
Mile High (2004) - Geneveve
Keen Eddie (2004) - Sarah Friedman
Boudica (2003) - Poppaea
Dinotopia (2002) - 18 Year Old Le Sage
Harry and Cosh (2002) - Gabby
Never Play with the Dead (2001) - Victoria
Teachers (2001) - Pauline Young
Dream Team (1999, 2004-2005) - Gina Moliano