As she counts down the days to the Logies on July 30, Ada Nicodemou’s focus isn’t on herself but on her second “incredible family”. Despite receiving her seventh nomination for one of the coveted awards, Nicodemou has her mind firmly made up about who should take home the gong for Most Popular Actress – and it isn’t herself.
“I really want Lynne [McGranger] to win,” the actress tells WHO of her Summer Bay co-star, who has been playing Irene Roberts since 1993. “She is the longest-serving female star of the show and can you believe this is her first time being nominated?”
The cast of the soap is still riding a high after Home and Away won the award for Most Popular Drama at the 2022 ceremony. The cherry on top of a massive year of celebrations for the show is that Nicodemou, McGranger and their fellow co-star Emily Symons took out three of the six nomination spots in their category for 2023.
“I think before [our win last year] that the show, it didn’t always get a lot of respect from the industry,” the 46-year-old says. “But everyone works so hard, and the storylines are really great and we tackle some very important topics, so it’s great to see that it finally is.”
Watch Below: Ava Nicodemou playing her iconic character, ‘Leah’
Nicodemou is the first to admit that it takes her “months of planning and preparation” to get ready for the big night. “That’s the best part – planning what to wear!” she exclaims.
Despite the meticulous planning, things sometimes do go wrong. Which brings us to her favourite ever memory of the Logies that occurred at the end of the 2010 ceremony.
“It was the year Ray Meagher won his very deserved Gold Logie,” she says. “I was sitting on one side and Emily was on the other. When he won, we jumped up and started cheering and some water got knocked over and spilt all over his crotch, he had to go up on stage like that to make his speech and he’s always blamed me.
“But I know it wasn’t me and who really did it,” she adds with a giggle.
Nicodemou joined Home and Away as a fresh-faced 22-year-old playing Leah in 2000. And despite Hollywood beckoning with a small role in The Matrix film and putting in a massive 23 years on the show, there’s no place she’d rather be.
“Can you believe when I first started, it was meant to be for six months only?” she asks. “I’m not going anywhere! I’ll stay as long as they’ll have me. I love the people I work with so much. I look forward to working every day. It sounds corny, but the cast and crew are really like one big happy family.”
Over the years, Nicodemou has dealt with some crazy storylines, including a husband who came back from the dead and her own few brushes with death, but there’s still one she’d love to try.“I really want to play Leah’s evil twin,” she confesses.
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