Inside The Teacher star Kara Tointon's life from famous partners to actress sister

The star of the latest series of The Teacher, Kara Tointon, has a busy life off-camera. The current series revolves around Kara Tointon's character Dani, who has an affair with a colleague which turns serious when a school child goes missing.

As circumstances take a dark twist, the art teacher finds herself risking it all and deceiving her family and her close friends. The Teacher is Kara's latest role after she played struggling mum in Channel 5's drama Too Good To Be True.

The ex-EastEnders star first appeared on our screens as an extra on the soap back in 1994, before playing the role of Dawn Swann from 2005 to 2009. She had an affair with Phil Mitchell before she departed with her partner Garry on a boat.

The Strictly Come Dancing champion has also bagged a number of other big roles and dated some well-known stars. Here's what we know about Kara Tointon's life.

Born and bred in Basildon, Essex, Kara Tointon always dreamt of becoming an actress. Tointon is best recognised for her four-year stint as Dawn Swann in EastEnders. Dawn was at the heart of many dramatic plots in the soap, including being taken hostage while pregnant by May Wright and Rob Minter, her relationship with Garry Hobbs, and later an affair with Phil Mitchell.

after leaving Walford, Kara Tointon broadened her acting horizons with roles in the final series of The Bill as Ami Ryan, and stage performances as Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion, Evelyn in Absent Friends and Giny in Relatively Speaking at Wyndham's Theatre.

She portrayed Kate Middleton in The Windsors West End production and Maria in ITV's live rendition of The Sound of Music Live. In 2010, she partnered with Artem Chigvintsev on Strictly Come Dancing Series 8, where they danced their way to