HIS TIME IS NOW | JOSEPH SIKORA

Throughout the past few months we have loved interviewing those who have been in POWER, POWER BOOK II: GHOST, POWER BOOK III: RAISING KANAN and with the release of POWER BOOK IV: FORCE on Feb 6th, we were excited to chat with Joseph Sikora (POWER, Ozark, Jack Reacher) who is back playing fan favorite, Tommy Egan. We talked about how he got into acting, being on POWER, where we find Tommy in the latest series and what projects he has coming up that we should keep an eye out for!

ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you realize that you wanted to be an actor?

JOSEPH SIKORA: I was 10 years old. There was a show that used to be on called KIDS Incorporated. Fergie used to be on it and I think even Jennifer Love Hewitt. They were just the kids that were being rockstars and actors. I went to my mom and I said, I’d love to be an actor. She said that if I still wanted to be an actor in a month, come back. So I’m waiting and counting down the days. I said, “ma I want to be an actor.” She says ok and pulls out the Yellow Pages and we look up acting and there isn’t much in there. We look up theater and my mother, to her credit starts cold calling theaters and says, “my son wants to be an actor, how do we do this?” Eventually, I auditioned for a role in A Christmas Carol at The Goodman Theater in Chicago, but I didn’t get it. The casting director said that I was really talented and that I should audition for The Little Prince which was up in a far suburb in Lake Forest in Chicago. I ended up booking the role so my mother had to trek me out all the way to Lake Forest for rehearsals and performances. I did it and it was really a bug. Then my mother again cold-called agencies and said, “my son is in a play will you come watch it and would you want to represent him afterward?” Some of them came and then I got representation, I did some commercials which really helped pay for college and saved all of my money and even when I was just getting into mischief in high school, I kept paying my SAG dues and I have been a member of SAG since 1988. That’s how I started acting, it was through the theater and doing little bits of pieces here and as you know, I have done a ton of stuff! But none of it was any real success until really the POWER show. It’s my biggest thing for sure!

I was a series regular one of the series leads of an Adult Swim show called The Heart, She Holler that I am very proud of. It was directed and written by Vernon Chatman and John Lee starring Patton Oswalt which was so much fun. I did stuff here and stuff there, but acting is a tough thing and it’s truly a calling in some ways that I just never gave up.

So in a lot of ways, Tommy Egan, he’s that same guy. Tommy Egan never gives up and he says as much in episode 1 of POWER when he takes Holly out for their first date to the bar. He just keeps fighting and so I really just kept fighting and I did it not for reasons of fame. I didn’t want people to recognize or know me, I did it because I wanted to be able to explore the human condition and to see what it would be like to be other people and from what other people experienced. To see what it’s like to love, lose and win in other bodies.

AM: What made you want to be part of POWER?

JS: I mean, I was starving! I had no money, I was auditioning, I had a couple of little things around that time that I was really happy to do. I had just done Jack Reacher and I had done True Detective, the series Banshee – I was dating a girl who is now my wife and I had found something that I loved more than acting. For whatever reason in the irony that is life, when you don’t want something so bad, things start coming to you. This is one of those things.

There were 5 auditions for POWER for Tommy Egan, which was originally called Eddie O’Neal by the way!

AM: Where did we leave Tommy in POWER and where do we pick him up again in FORCE?

JS: Well, where we leave Tommy in the POWER show, is with Tommy and NY in his rearview mirror. But then, in POWER BOOK II: GHOST, we realize that he made a U-turn to take care of some unfinished business with Tasha played by Naturi Naughton and obviously the lead of the series Michael Rainey Jr who plays Tariq. After he leaves Tariq in Monet’s capable hands, but makes an enemy of the Tejada group, it’s even more of a reason for Tommy to get out of town. He’s not welcome back in the town of the city that raised him, so now he’s on his way to Los Angeles to take care of the ports and to work at the ports of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles. But he makes a pit stop in Chicago for what people will find out in the first episode. But then he ends up saying, “you know what? Chicago may be talking to me right now. This may be my land of opportunity.” It’s a harkening back to the 1890’s where the NY papers said, “go West young man, go West!” Tommy did it and he ended up in Chicago and he sees a possibility of a future in the gem of the prairie in Chicago, Il.

AM: How does it feel to have this whole spinoff wrapped around your character?

JS: It’s great! I love working and I get to work more, it’s a win-win! I’m so happy and grateful for the audience demanding it and that Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson made it happen!

AM: Is there anything that you can tell us about it as I know it’s out very soon but any insights would be appreciated!

JS: Absolutely, I think that it’s super exciting and that it’s really truly different city, different rules, same Tommy. I’m so excited about the pilot directed by Larysa Kondracki (Legion, Gotham, THEM) and then we have Kieron Hawkes (POWER, POWER BOOK II GHOST, POWER BOOK III: RAISING KANAN) a POWER alum who directed in Raising Kanan and on the POWER BOOK II: GHOST, he’s an amazing director – so it’s great to have Kieron Hawkes! Another director that I am so excited about is Deon Taylor (Kicks, Meet the Blacks, Black and Blue) who directs our incredible finale. Everyone knows him from The Intruder and Black and Blue, Supremacy, and I am doing another film with Deon that’s going to be coming out in March called Fear, also starring Andrew “King Bach” Bachelor, T.I., Annie Ilonzeh, Iddo Goldberg and Terrence J – so a bit of an all star wonderful cast that is a thriller and a horror film that revolves around our current state of pandemic so you have to check that out!

AM: I just finished watching Ozark Season 4 part 1. It was nice seeing you in that!

JS: Nice! Frank Jr! Frank Jr is the antithesis to Tommy! Tommy is everything that Frank Jr is not. But they share the same struggle. They want to be able to make their way, they want to get outside of somebodies shadow, but Frank Jr is as unsuccessful as Tommy is successful.

IG @JosephSikora4

PHOTOS COURTESY | STARZ's POWER BOOK IV: FORCE

Hear STARZ's POWER BOOK IV: FORCE's Joseph Sikora on our show, #TRIBEGOALS - which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multimedia companion podcast network! Subscribe to be notified when the episode drops. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

Read the JAN ISSUE #73 of Athleisure Mag and see HIS TIME IS NOW | Joseph Sikora in mag.

ARE YOU STRESSED OUT?? WHY STRESS IS A BEAUTY BUSTER

Stress - We all have it but some of us deal with it better tan others. If you look at any recent United States President from their first day in office until their last, you will see that all aged appreciably in only four years. Why? Because carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders took its toll on their appearance. Even if you're just an everyday lady boss or Mom trying to make her way in the world, stress can cause you to age before your time. Here's how and why according to New York Neuropsychologist Dr. Sanam Hafeez.

Dr. Hafeez says that, "Aside from the unattractive scowl that stress brings to the face, it creates direct physiological changes. Stress is defines as the reaction of the body to a stressor or stimulus that causes stress. Stress can be acute, which affects the body in the short term, or chronic, affecting te body in the long term. Synonyms for stress include anxiety, nervousness, apprehensiveness, impatience, fear and restlessness."

Dr. Hafeez explains that, "Stress that is not controlled most certainly affects the body's physical characteristics or beauty. It affects skin, hair, fingernails, digestion and sleep patterns. Stress-induced conditions include hair loss, heart disease, obesity, obsessive-compulsive disorder, sexual dysfunction, tooth and gum disease and ulcers or indigestion."

Some Common Symptoms of Stress Induced Beauty Busters

Under-Eye Bags: Tomorrow's to-do list can weigh on your mind, keeping you from getting enough beauty sleep. This can cause fluid to pool below your lower eyelid area, and what you end up with is a puffy mess in the a.m. Stomach sleepers, bad news: You can expect the puffiness of your under-eye bags to be even worse because of gravity.

Flushed Face: "When you're stressed, you breather in short, shallow breaths and can even find yourself holding your breath for periods of time, which can lead to flushing and redness," says Dr. Hafeez.

Hair Loss: Stress can trigger alopecia areata, which causes patches of baldness anywhere on the body, including on your head. Stress can also trigger a tick where you pick at head hairs out of bad habit. This condition is called trichotillomania. Usually, this hair can grow back, but it doesn't even have to fall out in the first place. Pay close attention to your own habitural responses to daily stress, to avoid sparseness.

Gray Hair: Hair can also age prematurely due to stress, If you are genetically predisposed to have premature gray hair, stress will further decrease your production of melanin, easily increasing the number of gray or white hairs. By increasing your consumption of biotin, protein, and vitamin E you can reduce these negative effects to keep your hair strong and youthful.

Pimples: Stress alters your hormones. It increases cortisol production, which in turn increases the oil production in your skin. All of this leads to greater odds of clogged pores. Stress can also multiply the number of acne-causing bacteria in the body, which might require a high-dose antibiotic prescription from your dermatologist.

Mini Menopause: Dr. Hafeez says this isn't proven, but some believe increased levels of stress hormone cortisol can cause a dip in estrogen that's similar to the decrease during menopause. Less estrogen means less collagen production which can leave your skin dull and dry.

Wrinkles: Anxiety, crying, feeling down and a lack of sleep can cause deeper lines around the eyes, forehead, eye area and mouth.

Dark Circles: Stress can break the fragile capillaries under your eyes, leaving you with under-eye rings and a tired appearance.

Lines on the Fingernails: The appearance of vertical lines on your fingernails is fairly common and is related to both the natural aging process and nutritional deficiencies. But when they extend from the cuticle to the tip of the nail, it's a clear sign that your stress is having an effect on the body.

Stress and Weight Gain: Most of us become overeaters when we're feeling a lot of pressure. This happens thanks to your fight-or-flight response, a.k.a. survival mode -- once your body reaches a certain stress level, it does what it feels it needs to. In most cases, that means overeat. Why? Because your body thinks you've used calories to deal with your stress, even though you haven't, says Dr. Hafeez. She adds, "As a result, it thinks you need to replenish those calories, even though you don't. Levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, rise during tension-filled times. This can turn your overeating into a habit. Because increased levels of the hormone also help cause higher insulin levels, your blood sugar drops and you crave sugary, fatty foods.

How Can We Mitigate Stress?

Countless books and articles have been written about dealing with stress. Dr. Hafeez explains that, "The first step is recognition. To help deal with your stress, write down a list of what you are most worried about before any event, or what chronically causes worry in your life. Identifying your stressors is the first step in managing them. If you are chronically late or find that it is hard to get organized, figure out what you do that makes you late or disorganized. Write it down and acknowledge it. Then you can come up with a plan to preemptively tackle what may drive you and your loved ones into a stresed-out situation. Another trick in dealing with stress is plain old reasoning and the realization that you cannot control everything. Sometimes we trap ourselves into worrying about things that we have no control over, and recognition of that fact can reduce stress immeasurably.