Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alumnus Joseph Sikora ’98, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting, visited the college on October 18 for a “fireside chat” in the Sheldon Patinkin Theatre of the Getz Theatre Center of Columbia College in Chicago’s South Loop. The event was a joint presentation of the Theatre Department and the Columbia College Alumni Network. Video excerpts of Sikora’s conversation with Susan Padveen, Interim Allen and Lynn Turner Chair of Theatre at Columbia, have been posted on the college’s website along with a report on the event. To read the report, click here.

Sikora was back in his hometown of Chicago for filming on his Starz TV series, Power Book IV: Force, in which he stars as drug dealer Tommy Egan, a role he introduced in Power.

Sikora credits what he learned at Columbia for fostering a strong sense of self in himself and other students and preparing them for the professional world. “I give so much credit to Columbia because more so than any other classes I had taken, they really prepare you,” he says.

As previously reported in this blog, Sikora’s acting career began when he was a child in Chicago and played the title role in Touchstone Theatre’s production of The Little Prince. As an adult, he has appeared on Chicago stages in productions at Goodman, Lookingglass, Chicago Shakespeare, and Shattered Globe theatres. He was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award (Chicago’s top theatre award) for Actor in a Principal Role for his performance in Shattered Globe’s 1999 production Frozen Assets. He also costarred with fellow Chicago actor David Schwimmer in a 2006 Broadway production of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. Besides the Power franchise, his TV credits include Ozark, Law & Order: SVU, Chicago P.D., The Good Wife, Grey’s Anatomy, and Monk. His big-screen credits include roles in Rudy, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Charlie Wilson’s War, Shutter Island, Jack Reacher, and Jacob’s Ladder.