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. Kara has also in the past dated ex Busted member James Bourne.

Kara is 5ft 5in tall and has brown eyes. She was born in Basildon in Essex but shortly moved to Southend.

Kara began her acting career aged seven. She attended speech and drama lessons at school and she also took part in LAMDA examinations, entering local musical festivals doing poetry recital. Her first proper acting experience came when she played the part of Birgita in The Sound of Music at the Cliffs Pavillion.This is where she met James Bourne,he played Kurt.(Kara and James dated for 7 years on and off, and she is now currently seeing Terry, who co-starred in Dream Team with her as Mr Harchester himself, Karl Fletcher). 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.

As well as being an actress, Kara is also highly trained in dance, specializing in Aerobics, Ballet, Bass-Baritone, Cabaret Singing, Choreography, Contemporary, Jazz and Tap. In her spare time she enjoys painting, shopping, swimming, skiing and spending time with her friends and family, particularly her mother and younger sister Hannah, who recently moved away from Essex to London to be closer to her.

In 2004, Kara appeared in Mile High and in December returned to her former Dream Team role as Gina Moliano. Kara carried on her role as Gina into 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 as a major new character Dawn Swann.

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.