Kara Louise Tointon (born 5 August 1983) is an English actress, known for playing Dawn Swann in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. In 2010, she won the BBC competition series Strictly Come Dancing, and in 2015, she appeared as Maria in the ITV live production of The Sound of Music Live. She also played Erica Stoke in the eighth season of Lewis.
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Early life and education
Kara Tointon was born on 5 August 1983 in Basildon, Essex, England, to parents Ken and Carol Tointon. Together with her actress sister, Hannah (born 1987), Tointon was brought up in Leigh. Both sisters attended St Michael's School, Leigh, and St Hilda's School, Westcliff.
As described by her father, Ken, in interview, "Kara started to go to speech and drama lessons [at age] seven", and was diagnosed with dyslexia at "about seven-and-a-half". Soon after she began her related lessons, Tointon played Brigitta in a local amateur dramatic society's version of The Sound of Music at the Cliffs Pavilion, Westcliff. Tointon went on to "compete[ at] a high level in gymnastics and in national diving competitions".
Career
Tointon's first paid role was as one of the child dancers, at age 11, for a Snow White pantomime at the Cliffs. Thereafter, as her father describes it,Someone mentioned Sylvia Young... We managed to get Kara on the agency’s books and she got steady and work. / She went on to do a series of kid’s shows, theatre roles, adverts and extra roles... Her first appearance on television was at about the same time, as a school friend of the character Sonia in EastEnders in 1994.
After Tointon finished school in 2000, she began playing a role in the Channel 4 drama Teachers, where she appeared in the first series in 2001, in the part of student Pauline Young. Other appearances in this period included in Dinotopia in 2002, and in Mile High in 2004. She also starred in BBC's Curriculum Bites as a presenter in 2002. Tointon joined the cast of Dream Team "until 2005.. and [a]lmost as soon as she left... it was announced she was to join EastEnders. She joined that BBC soap cast as Dawn Swann, a role she played for 4 years—until being written out, along with co-star Ricky Groves, in August 2009.
In January 2010 she made a guest appearance in the 26th and final series of ITV's long-running police drama The Bill in "Duty Calls" as Ami Ryan.
In July 2010, she recorded a documentary for BBC Three called Kara Tointon: Don't Call Me Stupid. The programme examined the impact dyslexia can have on people's lives and the difference different learning styles can have on dyslexic people. Tointon revealed that she struggles as a dyslexic person, and had a reading age of 12. During the programme, Tointon visited Shapwick School in Somerset, which specialises in the education of dyslexic pupils, and talked with the pupils about their experiences.
Theatre
From May to September 2011, Tointon played Eliza Doolittle in the West End production of Pygmalion at the Garrick Theatre, opposite Rupert Everett as Professor Higgins. In spring 2012, Tointon played the role of Evelyn in Alan Ayckbourn's revival of the 1974 play Absent Friends, alongside Reece Shearsmith at the Harold Pinter Theatre, directed by Jeremy Herrin, which received critical acclaim. Following this she played Giny in Ayckbourn's Relatively Speaking, with Felicity Kendal, Jonathan Coy, and Max Bennett at the Wyndham's Theatre in 2013.
In 2026, Tointon starred as Constance in Laura Wade's adaptation of The Constant Wife for a UK tour, prior to a planned West End residency.
Pygmalion, Garrick Theatre, London, 2011
Absent Friends, Harold Pinter Theatre, London, 2012
Relatively Speaking, Wyndhams Theatre, London, 2013
Gaslight, Touring Production – various cities in England, 2017
Twelfth Night, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 2017–18
The Man in the White Suit, Theatre Royal Bath and Wyndham's Theatre, London, 2019
The Constant Wife, Touring Production – various cities in England, 2026
Television
In 2015 and 2016, Tointon played Rosalie Selfridge in the television drama series Mr Selfridge, the semi-fictional story based on the life of Harry Selfridge. Tointon played the part of Maria in The Sound of Music Live in the UK, broadcast on 20 December.
In January 2017, Tointon appeared in the ITV period drama The Halcyon, which was set in 1940 at a five-star hotel "at the centre of London Society and a world at war". From November, Tointon played the role of Olivia in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Twelfth Night.
In 2024 Tointon played Rachel in Captivated.
Film
On 22nd July 2025 it was announced that Kara will play Willamae Abernathy in Sunrise on the Reaping, the next movie adaptation in the Hunger Games trilogy, scheduled for release 20th November 2026.
Strictly Come Dancing
In 2008, Tointon won the Sport Relief special edition of Strictly Come Dancing with Mark Ramprakash. Her samba was enough to get her the Glitterball Trophy.
In September 2010, Tointon was a contestant on series 8, partnered with Artem Chigvintsev. The pair became champions on 18 December 2010.
Other work
In August 2009, she was unveiled as the new face of Michelle for George underwear at Asda.
In February 2011, Tointon took part in the BT Red Nose Desert Trek for Comic Relief 2011. Tointon also guest starred in an episode of Sky's “Bedlam” playing Leah (Kerry) Cole. In September, it was announced that Kara would play a lead role in the new film Last Passenger, opposite Dougray Scott and directed by Omid Nooshin.
In 2018, Tointon joined 26 other celebrities at Metropolis Studios, to perform an original Christmas song called Rock With Rudolph, written and produced by Grahame and Jack Corbyn. The song was released in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital and was released digitally on independent record label Saga Entertainment on 30 November 2018 under the artist name The Celebs. The music video debuted exclusively with The Sun on 29 November 2018 and had its first TV showing on Good Morning Britain on 30 November 2018. The song peaked at number two on the iTunes pop chart.
Personal life
Family
In November 2018, Tointon gave birth to her first child, a boy, with her then-fiancé Marius Jensen. She had a second son with Marius Jensen in 2021.
Relationships
In 2004, Tointon dated Busted band member James Bourne. Their relationship was depicted in the TV series America or Busted but ended in January 2005, shortly after the band split up.
Tointon was in a relationship with EastEnders co-star James Alexandrou which began in April 2006. The relationship reportedly ended in November 2007.
Tointon was in a relationship with her EastEnders co-star Joe Swash from 2008 to 2010.
Health
In May 2025, Tointon announced that she had undergone a double mastectomy and a bilateral salpingectomy, after testing positive to being a carrier of the BRCA mutation BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. In a post on social media site Instagram, she stated, "There is a history of both cancers in my family on my mother's side, but for various reasons, including generational trauma of which I'll talk more about another time, we hadn't looked into it until that point. But it was put to us, we took the test, and it was confirmed that my mum and I both carried the gene." Tointon's mother died from ovarian cancer in 2018.
Charity
In September 2014, Tointon took part in the Great North Run to raise money for Share A Star, a charity set up to help severely unwell children and teenagers.