On stage, Dawson received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for playing Smike in the 2007 production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

Dawson was born in Widnes, England, and attended Fairfield High School and Warrington Collegiate Institute before being accepted to RADA on the acting programme in 2002.

A year later he wrote and starred in the play The Boy in the Bed at the Tower Theatre, Islington, with financial backing from Barbara Windsor and Julie Walters to whom he had written for help.

[2] After leaving RADA in 2005, Dawson's first professional role was as understudy to Kevin Spacey as the eponymous hero of Shakespeare's Richard II for Trevor Nunn.

Dawson drew critical acclaim for his portrayal of writer Tony Warren in the BBC Four drama The Road to Coronation Street.

[15] The Daily Express said "It is David Dawson and some perfectly judged dialogue which brings this drama to light"[16] while The Mirror's Jane Simon called him "absolutely brilliant".