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.
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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 portrays 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 was dating her former EastEnders co-star, James Alexandrou, but they have now decided to split after the pair realised that they had drifted apart after spending less time with each other this year..
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.[1] Kara was also nominated for best actress at the National Television Awards on 31st October 2007 but didn't win it.
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
