Kara Tointon

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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.

1 Biography
2 Career
3 Personal Life
4 Filmography
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Biography

Tointon was born in Basildon in Essex, but shortly afterwards moved to Southend. Her younger sister Hannah is also an actress best known for her soap work, playing Katy Fox in Hollyoaks. Tointon is 5"5' tall.

[edit] 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.

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.

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 in September 2005 as a new character, Dawn Swann.

Kara audition for Eastenders at the same time as Tiana Benjamin, Matt Di Angelo, Kellie Shirley and Charlie Clements. They are close friends.

Kara won the Sport Relief version of Strictly Come Dancing in March 2008. Her partner was former Strictly Come Dancing champion, Mark Ramprakash.

[edit] Personal Life

When in The Sound of Music, she met ex-Busted member James Bourne, who played Kurt. The couple dated on-and-off for seven years. Tointon was rumored to have dumped Bourne when Busted split up, 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.

On the set of Dream Team, Tointon met her former boyfriend Terry Kiely, who played Karl Fletcher in the show. The couple announced their split in the summer of 2006.

Tointon also dated her former EastEnders co-star, James Alexandrou, but split after realizing that they had drifted apart after spending less time with each other in 2007. ^[1]

[edit] Filmography

EastEnders (2005 - present) - Dawn Swann
Just My Luck (2005) Uncredited, along with sister Hannah, most likely to be herself
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