When Dreams Come True
By Marina Kochetova
They say the weather is directly proportional to one’s mood. And as soon as spring arrives, our spirits begin to lift.
In spring, we want to live again,
Feeling spring’s embrace,
To love someone with all our heart,
Leaving winter’s sorrows behind.
Let the wind chase away the blues,
And the sun awaken our smiles,
Let gardens bloom within our souls —
An Angel will play the violin for us…
These lines came to mind even though I am far from being a poet. Is spring really the season when dreams come true? Perhaps. Then maybe, for dreams to come true more often, we should carry an eternal spring within our hearts. The hero of today’s story believes that there is no such thing as bad weather. And all of his many dreams eventually come true—even though he is still only a teenager!
Several years ago, I wrote about him:
"Nikita Kim is a spirited Ottawa schoolboy blessed with a remarkable range of talents. To me, he is a little Justin Bieber! Judge for yourself: besides attending regular school, he has studied painting since first grade (his grandfather was a People’s Artist of Uzbekistan and the chief architect of Samarkand), creating beautiful acrylic compositions. In the fall of 2021, he began learning piano. Since the age of six, he has studied mathematics through the UCMAS (United Concept of Mental Arithmetic System) program and can mentally add, subtract, multiply, and divide two-digit numbers. He plays chess, takes speech and diction lessons, and enjoys attending a theatre club (his aunt is a professional actress and People’s Artist of Uzbekistan). He performs in musical theatre productions and sings quite well. He is also very active in sports."
Nikita’s grandfather was a champion gymnast in Uzbekistan, while his father excelled in sambo wrestling and even became a medalist at the international USA Sambo Open tournament. Nikita is passionate about both gymnastics and wrestling. Among gymnastics disciplines, he especially enjoys trampoline jumping with aerial flips. He learned the basics of sambo from his father, with whom he still trains, and has also tried judo. His father taught him swimming, skating, alpine skiing, and tennis. Nikita proudly owns a tennis tournament medal, which means just as much to him as his academic awards in mathematics and chess. In short, he is truly a child of the new generation. Credit goes to his parents, Natasha and Stanislav, who have successfully maintained a balance among all of his activities while also raising two older daughters. But today, our story is about Nikita.
One day, while driving home from an event, Nikita heard an intriguing radio announcement. Radio station Jump 106.9, together with the Anne & Alemi real estate group, announced a competition for the best one-minute amateur film, offering a total prize pool of $11,000.
Inspired by the idea, Nikita immediately shared it with his parents and sisters, suggesting that they participate and try to win. Despite his young age, he took the project very seriously. His team had only one month to prepare, film, and submit their entry, requiring the help of friends and relatives.
More than one hundred films were entered into the competition. Although Nikita’s team did not win the grand prize, they finished in the Top 10—a significant achievement in itself.
Nikita is not the type of person to stop after achieving success. Later, almost by chance, he attended an audition for the Canadian Modelling and Acting agency and successfully passed it.
That was several years ago. Time has passed, but the talented young man continues to thrive as a musician, athlete (a multiple-time Wushu competition medalist), and creative performer. He studies in the violin program at Ottawa’s renowned Canterbury High School. He remains active in musical theatre, constantly refining his stage presence, acting skills, movement, and emotional expression.
Today, Nikita Kim is a young Canadian actor, voice-over artist, and motion-capture performer. He is a full member of ACTRA and has already participated in several international productions. One of his most notable roles was in Ubisoft’s video game Assassin’s Creed Shadows, where he portrayed Junjiro as both a motion-capture actor and English-language voice actor. For this performance, he received two awards: Best Supporting Role and Voice Performance Award.
Nikita has also appeared in television productions, commercials, and projects for major brands and studios, including the legendary Star Trek franchise.
Fluent in English and French, understanding Russian, and blessed with natural charisma and a great sense of humor, this new-generation performer has already accumulated an impressive list of awards. Among them are SMTC Overall Division Winner, Canadian Kids Casting Competition Winner, Cover Competition Winner, and the Nova Star Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Lead Role.
This is someone from whom we can all take inspiration. The son of Russian-speaking Korean immigrants and a resident of our city, he is becoming a rising star in the world of film and entertainment. Remember his face and his name. Nikita Kim is someone whose dreams truly come true