Ada Nicodemou has been one of Summer Bay’s most enduring performers since her debut on Home And Away in 1999.
Nicodemou has been nominated for a number of prestigious Logie Awards throughout her extended run as fan favourite Leah. She is up for the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actress this year.
Nicodemou spoke on The Morning Show with Larry Emdur and guest host Sonia Kruger, who was nominated for a Gold Logie this year, and expressed her love for playing a character that has seen many ups and downs during the show’s frequently stormy storylines.
“After you’ve been playing a character for 22 years, I’m going to say we’re pretty similar – you can’t help but be yourself on the show.” she said.
“She’s lovely, I love Leah, I adore her. She’s loyal, she’s a good friend and she’s happy at the moment which is really good to see.”
As Nicodemou prepares for this year’s Logies Red Carpet, Emdur dug through the archives to find some of the star’s earlier appearances, beginning with a blue gown she wore in 2002.
“That was one of the first times we were styled and I think that dress was a Shane McConnell dress,” the star recalled.
Seeing the stunning dresses she had previously worn brought back wonderful memories, like a red dress she wore in 2005 and a Gitane dress she wore in 2007 – but there was another design feature in that stylish combination that attracted her attention.
“Love the hair, see, it gave me a lot of height, I needed that,” she said with a laugh.
Nicodemou had an extra reason to smile when she saw herself on the 2012 red carpet in a blue gown.
“I was pregnant with (son) Johnas,” she recalled fondly.
“That (dress) was Paolo Sebastian, it’s the first time I wore Paolo – what a great colour, if I do say so myself,” she said.
The final throwback was to a photo from 2019 in which Nicodemou wore a show-stopping gold gown.
“That was Steven Khalil, I love that dress – isn’t it amazing?” she said.