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There are a few things Joseph Sikora can't live without. From his yoga mat and some pickled vegetables to a money clip and a framed thank you note from Martin Scorsese, these are the actor's ten essentials.

SAG-AFTRA members are currently on strike; as part of the strike, union actors are not promoting their film and TV projects. This video was filmed prior to the strike.

Director: Jeremy Clowney
Director of Photography: Brad Wickham
Editor: Graham Mooney
Producer: Jean-Luc Lukunku
Associate Producer: Chris Sechler
Talent Booker: Mica Medoff; Meredith Judkins; Phoebe Feinberg
Camera Operator: Chloe Ramos
Production Assistant: Rowmel Findley
Post Production Supervisor: Rachael Knight
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Rob Lombardi
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Transcript
00:00 It says, "Dear Joe, it's good to be working with you again.
00:02 Martin Scorsese."
00:04 That was my Martin Scorsese notation.
00:05 (upbeat music)
00:08 What's up everybody, this is Joseph Sikora
00:10 and this is GQ's 10 things that I cannot live without.
00:13 (upbeat music)
00:16 Look at the color of my skin, I'm translucent.
00:23 Sunscreen is very important to me
00:25 because like I always say,
00:26 I come in the colors of the Polish flag, white and red.
00:29 I got one here for my rosacea.
00:31 I got my New York favorite, keels.
00:34 Another like fancy pants,
00:36 one that my wife has me wear every now and again.
00:38 Full body, arms everywhere.
00:40 Give me my SPFs, make sure they're on my face.
00:42 I wear them rain or shine, summer or winter.
00:45 I gotta have sunscreen on at all times.
00:48 (upbeat music)
00:50 My next essential item is a yoga mat.
00:57 I try to take one everywhere I go.
00:58 It's just nice to have this.
01:00 I was doing a movie with Dion Taylor
01:02 called "Fear" that you should go check out.
01:04 And I was doing jump squats in a HIIT class
01:06 and I broke my kneecap because I was doing it
01:09 on concrete and stone floor.
01:12 So now I wisely, after I healed,
01:14 bring my yoga mat everywhere that I can
01:16 because you need a little bit of cushioning.
01:19 I love to do yoga but I also love HIIT classes
01:22 and I have found you don't need a whole lot of weight
01:24 to get results, you just need to not eat
01:27 as much as I want to.
01:28 And be consistent.
01:29 (upbeat music)
01:32 People say, you know, eat to live, don't live to eat.
01:37 I live to eat and I don't care.
01:39 And one of those items is Jardinaire,
01:42 especially hot Jardinaire.
01:43 Now, the GQ team is talented and as wonderful as they are,
01:47 this is not Chicago authentic Jardinaire.
01:49 It might do in a pinch, I gotta tell you.
01:51 I put it on everything, put it on pasta,
01:53 put it on pizza, anything even slightly Italian.
01:56 I put it on sandwiches.
01:57 I love an Italian harrow, of course.
01:59 You have to put it on Italian beef
02:00 and I get my beef dipped.
02:01 It's kind of this wonderful mash of au jus
02:05 and Jardinaire with the spicy oil
02:08 and made my mouth water just now.
02:11 Check it out, I'm not opposed to licking my fingers either.
02:14 We got a good piece of cauliflower here too.
02:16 Cauliflower's good, it's heavy on the pickling,
02:20 on the vinegar, which you don't wanna be overpowered
02:23 by the vinegar, this is super not Chicago.
02:25 I'm not gonna lie, I'm not gonna lie to you,
02:27 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:28 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:29 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:29 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:30 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:31 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:32 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:33 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:34 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:35 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:35 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:36 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:37 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:38 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:39 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:40 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:40 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:41 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:42 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:43 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:44 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:49 I'm not gonna lie to you.
02:54 - Hey guys, it's actually a beautiful hero sandwich for you.
02:57 No, it is a very special and dear thing to me
03:02 from my good friend, the drama king,
03:05 the street sweeper, DJ K-Slay.
03:07 He made this for me with my graffiti name on it.
03:09 Put Dez TMT, which is a huge honor.
03:13 Growing up, being a graffiti writer,
03:15 having that be so much a part of my identity,
03:18 part of the reality of my urban experience.
03:21 Dez One is one of the prominent graffiti writers
03:23 of all time in history.
03:24 This is a beautiful reminder of meeting one of your heroes.
03:28 And this is super special to me.
03:29 I can't believe I'm getting choked up.
03:31 I'm a little embarrassed.
03:32 He gave me a lot of belief in myself
03:33 and my claim that maybe rap is something you do,
03:36 but hip hop is something you live.
03:38 My playlist, I'm all over the place,
03:40 but I love that golden era of hip hop.
03:43 You know, Rakim is always on my top five
03:46 and Big L and J.Ru the Damager, Big Daddy Kane.
03:50 I love, still love Kumo D
03:52 and I love the war between Kumo D and LL.
03:54 And it was kind of that golden era of hip hop
03:56 that brought the brands like Brand Nubian
03:59 and Jungle Brothers and Tribe
04:02 and just this wonderfully inclusive era of hip hop
04:06 that was respectful of everybody in some capacity.
04:09 And it was about knowledge and progression.
04:10 It felt good.
04:11 Next essential item that I can't live without.
04:17 It's my money clip, money grip.
04:19 A money clip is so much better than a wallet for me
04:22 because it's just, you pop it out,
04:23 you got all your bills here.
04:25 Can't go nowhere without a hundo.
04:26 This will buy me a coffee and a sandwich in New York.
04:29 I have a funny little Visa card
04:31 that you can get clothes on that my mother-in-law gave me.
04:33 And I think it's got 50 bucks on here
04:35 and I still haven't spent it.
04:36 I'm kind of a cash guy.
04:38 And then I have my Chicago Ventra card.
04:41 It's the Chicago version of this.
04:43 This is for the L train, the CTA.
04:45 I didn't have these forever 'cause I was against them.
04:48 One of my favorite possessions is my Metro card.
04:51 How do you get anywhere in New York without a Metro card?
04:54 When people are too bougie to have a Metro card,
04:56 I'm sorry for you sitting in traffic
04:58 and breathing in those fumes
04:59 when you'd be surrounded by wonderful New Yorkers
05:02 in a sea of humanity
05:03 and get wherever you need to go in all of the five boroughs.
05:06 I like tangible stuff.
05:08 This lion, the Leo.
05:15 This is one of my essentials
05:16 'cause it was a really difficult time in my life.
05:19 I had recently gotten stage fright
05:22 here in New York on Broadway.
05:24 And then I ended up doing a play at Chicago Shakespeare,
05:27 Cymbeline.
05:28 Sean Cross, who played Imogen, the lead in the play,
05:32 and I played her star-crossed lover, posthumous Leonidas,
05:36 which obviously Leonidas meaning the lion.
05:38 She gave me this afterwards
05:40 and it was a long journey for both of us.
05:42 She's one of the country's premier Shakespearean actresses,
05:45 Sean Cross, and I'm not.
05:48 She gave me this afterwards
05:49 because we really came far in our friendship
05:52 and going through a Shakespeare play,
05:54 the bard's words are pretty difficult a lot of the time.
05:58 And it was really an accomplishment
06:00 and the beginning to getting over my stage fright,
06:02 which took me about 10 years to get over.
06:05 And I'm still getting over it.
06:07 I still have stage fright,
06:08 but it was during the Power Show
06:10 where I felt the freedom again to play
06:13 and not to be quite as stressed and have fun in the moment.
06:15 And I'm eternally grateful for that.
06:17 And this reminds me that I'm eternally grateful
06:20 and I can conquer my fears.
06:22 A big, bad lion.
06:23 Arr.
06:24 [upbeat music]
06:27 My next essential is a thank you card
06:34 from a very special director named Martin Scorsese.
06:38 This is when I was doing "Boardwalk Empire."
06:42 I had just done a tiny little role in "Shutter Island"
06:44 and then I got cast in "Boardwalk Empire."
06:46 And it's also very special because on the same day
06:50 that I got this thank you card from Martin Scorsese
06:53 is the exact same day when I first met
06:56 the woman who would become my wife.
06:59 So, very special.
07:00 It took me a long time.
07:01 I've been acting 37 years.
07:04 Because I was not successful but consistently acting,
07:07 mainly doing theater in Chicago,
07:08 I'd never really claimed being an actor.
07:12 It wasn't until probably about 15 years ago
07:15 that I felt like, you know, I'm an actor
07:17 and a certain sense of coming into my own,
07:21 being the person that I was becoming and owning it.
07:24 And Marty was incredible.
07:27 You know, I'm in Chicago and I'm too humble.
07:29 Oh, I'm just happy to be here and stuff.
07:31 And he's like, no, no, you're here for a reason.
07:33 Stand up, be proud, put your chest out.
07:35 What do you got there in the notebook?
07:36 And I'm like, oh, I just wrote the backstory
07:37 for this character.
07:38 He goes, read me the whole thing.
07:40 So, I ended up reading Martin Scorsese
07:43 three full single line college ruled pages
07:45 of my backstory of my character.
07:48 It made me feel really good and important
07:50 and I'm grateful, super grateful to him.
07:52 And that was kind of really a starting point
07:54 for the rest of my career.
07:56 It says, dear Joe, it's good to be working with you again.
07:59 Martin Scorsese.
08:00 That was my Martin Scorsese imitation.
08:02 [upbeat music]
08:05 My next essential is the dog tags.
08:11 It says James Barr, which is the character
08:13 that I played in the Jack Reacher movie.
08:16 Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher movie.
08:17 Why are these so important to me?
08:19 It was more than just the character,
08:21 but it was the relationships.
08:22 Obviously, I love Tom Cruise.
08:23 I'd love to work with Tom again.
08:25 He's a consummate professional.
08:26 I can't say enough nice things about Tom Cruise.
08:27 A super nice guy, always remembered my name,
08:30 consummate professional and demanded
08:32 that you bring your A game.
08:33 I am for all of those things.
08:35 But I met one of my best friends, Jai Courtney.
08:37 I'm so grateful for the friends that I've made
08:40 in the entertainment industry, other actors,
08:43 'cause I think it's harder than you think.
08:45 There's such a weirdness in this business,
08:48 competitiveness, judgementalness, jadedness.
08:52 So when you find the good ones, you wanna keep them close.
08:55 To play a pretty backwards, awful murderer, James Barr,
09:00 and to walk away with so many positive things
09:04 is no small feat.
09:05 - Do you keep a lot of props in shows?
09:08 - Not a lot.
09:08 I kept a bullet that Tommy used to blank to kill Angela.
09:12 It is fun to look at.
09:13 I'm just like, oh, look at this.
09:14 This is the one that got her.
09:16 [upbeat music]
09:18 Next up on this journey, art from the Socorro family.
09:25 The first option I'm gonna show you,
09:27 it's a charcoal drawing that my little niece did.
09:30 And I think she was six years old when she did this.
09:33 And my wife and I were just blown away.
09:35 Arwin, you are an incredible artist, don't ever stop.
09:37 And I have no idea what this means.
09:39 And I'm wondering if a six year old,
09:42 or maybe she was eight, but no older than that,
09:45 knew what necessarily this means either.
09:47 But it's like such a wonderful reason to make art.
09:51 It's just to express.
09:52 Something I think everybody sees
09:54 is love and unity and oneness.
09:57 Part two is my mom's painting of a sunset
10:01 in New Buffalo, Michigan.
10:03 Isn't that unbelievable?
10:05 Like, every time I look at it,
10:06 I feel like it's a window
10:08 and I'm actually watching the sunset.
10:10 My third thing is this box
10:12 that my brother made for me for Christmas.
10:14 And I don't know which Christmas.
10:16 You probably can't see,
10:17 but there's a little Santa Claus on there,
10:19 done with crayons.
10:20 And it says here,
10:21 Joe, I'm sorry for all the bad things I did.
10:24 I keep this box every single place I've ever lived.
10:27 I store different things in here.
10:28 Oh, and here, look, there's E.T.
10:30 My grandmother was an artist.
10:31 Art was always something that she did.
10:34 My mother is an incredible artist.
10:36 And I'm okay.
10:38 Hey, thanks for having me, GQ.
10:40 I'd love to share my 10 essentials right now.
10:42 And don't forget,
10:44 you gotta watch Power Book 4 Force,
10:47 September 1st on Starz.
10:49 (upbeat music)
10:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]