Gino Esposito

Gino Esposito
Neighbours character
Portrayed by	Claude Stevens (2000) Shane McNamara (2001–07)
Duration	2000–07
First appearance	11 August 2000
Last appearance	27 June 2007
Introduced by	Stanley Walsh
Classification	Former; recurring
Profile
Occupation	Hairdresser Owner of A Good Hair Day Salon (2001–07)

Gino Esposito (né Ray Murphy) is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Shane McNamara. The character made his first on-screen appearance on 11 August 2000 and was originally played by Claude Stevens. Gino was the owner of A Good Hair Day, a salon, which both Lyn Scully and Janelle Timmins were employed at. He was also involved in community theatre.

In 1995, Neighbours introduced a storyline about the bullying of gay teacher, Andrew Watson (Christopher Uhlman). It was a turning point for the show, but it took another five years before another gay male character was introduced. Gino made his first appearance in 2000. He was a hairdresser who owned the local hair salon and spoke about his flatmate Aaron often. It was later revealed that Aaron was his partner.Neighbours script producer, Luke Devenish said of the character, "He is a [gay] stereotype, and we don't have a problem with that as he is not a negative stereotype, he is a comic charter and it is for a laugh – in the Mr Humphries [of Are You Being Served] kind of tradition". David Knox of TV Tonight called Gino an "incidental gay male character." When Gino moves in with Harold Bishop (Ian Smith), the writers decided to tweak the "standard love triangle story" with Lou Carpenter (Tom Oliver) becoming jealous of the duo. Harold and Gino get along very well and share a love of musicals. Of this, Peter Mattessi of The Age said "The tension this created between Lou and Harold ("same-sex platonic life-partners", according to Toadie) was a wonderful storytelling twist, and the innuendo made Gino's sexuality clear to those in the know, yet avoided the questions from younger viewers which would jeopardise the G rating."

Gino Esposito was born Ray Murphy, but he decided to change his name when he became a hairdresser. Gino formed a reputation as a top hairdresser and he decided to open his own hair salon. He bought the A Good Hair Day salon in the Lassiter's Complex in 2001, which concerned Lyn Scully (Janet Andrewartha), who had been managing it for the previous owner. Gino and Lyn were rivals and Lyn began dressing younger as she knew that Gino favoured young, pretty hair stylists. Gino put Lyn on a month's trial to see if she could juggle her family and her commitments to the salon. Lyn quit after Gino started taking her regular clients away from her. Lyn decides to branch out on her own and take Gino's clients with her. When Gino finds out about her plans, he threatens to blacken Lyn's name around the town. Lyn tells Gino that she knows his real name is Ray Murphy. Gino is shocked and does not want his reputation ruined, so he accepts Lyn's resignation. Gino's business suffers without Lyn and he tells her that he made a mistake in mistreating her. Lyn then agrees to come back.

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