With one full movie already made and a second one in process, Talan Sikes is well on his way to becoming a director. From his questionable childhood to now, Talan navigates quite a wild ride.
Talan Wayne Sikes. Sophomore. Son. Aspiring Director. Friend. He can be known as many things to many people. How did he get to being those things? Some are obvious, and others are quite the story.
Sikes was born and raised right here in Knoxville, Tennessee on August 31st, 2006. He spent most of his childhood on his Nintendo DS playing Super Smash Bros. He made the huge mistake of telling me about the times where he would stand in his yard in his kiddie pool naked just screaming at random people. Why? Even he doesn’t know.
Moving on from the naked screams, and outside of school, he’s a casual church goer, going every Sunday and every once in a while on a Wednesday. Sikes is also a big fan of the beach, having gone to Jamaica and the Bahamas before.
When confronted with the question “Are there any political or social issues you feel passionately about?” all he had to say was “Racism needs to end,” and I couldn’t agree more. Talan say’s the hardest thing about being a Sophomore is all the anxiety and he copes with it by “Doing whatever makes me happy.”
Sikes’ most embarrassing moment as a Sophomore is nothing… yet. The year is still young. His biggest stresses are school and all the due dates. His favorite weekend activity after a hard week of school is watching movies, specifically suspenseful movies.
Talan Wayne Sikes 
Martin Scorsese: The “Best Director”
Goodfellas is Talan’s favorite movie, as it’s also directed by his favorite director, Martin Scorsese. Scorsese is the director who inspired Talan to become a director. “He changed my life.”
Talan has already made a full movie, and there’s another one in the works. He hopes to become a true director and by the time he’s 30 he wants to win the academy award for best director. If he achieves that dream, he will become the youngest person to ever win that award.
Something I noticed while he was going on about his dreams is that he’s very passionate. The way he talked with his hands while talking about his dreams showed to me how much this means to him.
Talan Sikes is quite the young man. When he was 14 he once heard his mom calling his name when he was home alone. He loves listening to Chymira and watching Woody Allen movies makes him laugh. The best compliment he’s ever received was once being called cute and he’s cherished that ever since.
Talan has big dreams and I believe he can reach them. The passion, interest, the fire in his eyes and more really showed how much he wants it to happen and if you want something enough, you can work towards it and achieve it.
The Bobcat Times 