Home And Away Junction. 0.9. Official Fansite

The stunning twosome are believed to have been on several dates together, including one at a nearly deserted Gold Class cinema where they were spotted canoodling.

Calls to Gordon and Anasta on the state of their relationship went unanswered at the end of last week.

The soapie star and the Sydney Roosters skipper have both recently come out of long-term relationships.

Gordon broke up with the television executive Ryan Stokes after her June drama, in which she was found in the unit of bikie Mark Judge, while Anasta and former beauty queen Erin McNaught ceased being an item in August.

Since then, the Australian rugby league rep star has been linked with blonde Natasha Pinter, who he took to the Dally Ms, while Gordon has been flying solo as she works on staying healthy and her acting career.

 

 

Confirming he's joined the Seven soap, Laga'aia spoke fondly of his return to serialised TV last week.

"My mates have been making a few jokes that the only reason I got the gig was because they needed someone with a full licence who can drive them around," he said.

"No, look it's been a lot of fun, everyone works so hard on this show but I'm certainly enjoying myself."

Laga'aia plays a Summer Bay blow-in, a Brazilian jujitsu instructor and Anglican minister named Elijah Johnson.

"I didn't audition, it was an offer," he said. "Apparently, when they were writing the character they kept saying, 'He's a bit of this and a bit of that; he's a bit like Jay Laga'aia.' I'm not sure exactly what that that means: a bit Ernie Dingo, a bit Kamahl? A little bit country, a little bit rock 'n' roll? Then they thought they might as well ask me what I was doing and I said, `Yes!'"

 

 

They describe the bond shared with castmates and the feeling of being part of a family.

When a much-loved member of that family endures hardship, you can guarantee his or her fellow cast-mates will be there to console, defend and offer support.

That's just how the tight-knit cast of Home and Away responded to the traumas experienced this year by Jodi Gordon.

It's been a turbulent year for Logie Award-winning Gordon.

She's weathered a painful break-up with media heir Ryan Stokes and is also beliveved to have sought treatment for alcohol-related issues after an alleged bender in June.

After 10 years on the soap, Ada Nicodemou, who plays Leah, knows better than most the importance of having back-up from workmates when the going gets tough.

She also struggled with life in the public eye when fire tore through her husband Chrys Xipolitas's restaurant two years ago.

Nicodemou says when you are going through personal drama and then fronting up for work to play a character having a miscarriage, you need workmates who'll help you see the positives in life.

The same happened when Gordon, 24, returned to work after her ordeal.

"We are a team and work together as a team," Nicodemou says.

"If anyone is going through anything, then we all band together and deal with it together.

"We are all very close and it's hard not to be when you're working long hours together.

"As an actor, it's so emotional because you are basically stripped down naked and have to bare all your emotions to each other - so you get really, really close".

Todd Lasance, who this year won a Logie for his portrayal of Aden, says public recognition can be difficult to handle.

He sympathises with mate Gordon having her name dragged through the mud.

"You have to have a life away from work," he says.

"The interesting thing is you read an article about people partying.

"At the end of the day, we are growing up and going through that period where you want to go out and party, have fun with your friends and just because of your career choice doesn't mean people all of a sudden have the right to judge all that we do.

"Jodi is an absolute sweetheart and a beautiful person.

"I really felt for her when she was getting hammered all the time."

Nicodemou and Lasance fire up when the subject of illegal drugs is mentioned.

Allegations were made this year that drug and alcohol abuse on Home and Away was part of the soap's culture.

Nicodemou says the claims are nonsense. Lasance is equally adamant. "You work so hard to build the show up and get respect up and it (the drug allegations) feels like it pulls you back," he says.

"The people who know and respect us know it's not true."

Nicodemou, who married restaurateur Xipolitas in her own Big Fat Greek wedding in 2007, has lived through many on and off-screen ordeals.

At 13, she was rejected at audition for a role in the soap.

Undeterred in her acting ambitions, she scored a job on Heartbreak High before successfully testing for the role of Leah on Home and Away.

"Leah is just a couple of years younger than me, so she is a growing woman and I guess I've changed with her and she's changed with me," Nicodemou says.

"When I first started she hadn't had a child, she was still a young woman and now she's got two children, she's been married twice and I've been married. I was saying to my husband the other day, `Far out Chrys, we've been together four years and how much has changed in four years'?"

 

Token Greek

"When I first started on Home and Away I was the token Greek girl," she says.

"I think, 10 years on, we have moved on from that and now in television there is a lot of multiculturalism shown, but it never used to be that way on Home and Away. It was Anglo-Saxon, people with blonde hair and blue eyes. I sort of stood out a bit, but now it's so mixed you don't have your token Aborigine or Italian or Greek any more.

"The toughest story line for me involved a miscarriage. I found that really difficult to do. I'm not one of those actors who can just turn on emotion and then laugh, then cry and forget about it.

"For me to cry I need to bring up a whole lot of stuff. It's kind of like therapy sometimes being on set and dealing with it. I end up dealing with a whole heap of things in my own life as well."

Home and Away, PG
Channel 7, weekdays, 7pm
Life in Summer Bay
Duration: 30 minutes