Mindful On Set: The Righteous Gemstones’ Kerstin Schulze on Playing Sola and Staying Grounded

An interview with actor Kerstin Schulze on mindfulness, kung-fu, and what it takes to be the newest member of the Righteous Gemstone family on HBO.

By Angela Stubbs | May 16, 2025

Kerstin Schulze as Sola on The Righteous Gemstones on HBO - Season 4. Photo: Warner Bros. Discovery.

Kerstin Schulze is a force of nature—an actor, elite fitness trainer, and founder of a performance-focused wellness company whose approach to movement is as intentional as it is powerful. Best known for her role as Sola, the mysterious German nanny with a surprising kung fu twist on HBO comedy The Righteous Gemstones, Schulze brings a unique blend of physical discipline and grounded presence to every role she inhabits—from her turn as “Workout Tina” Fey for Booking.com to her intense performance on American Horror Story: Roanoke.

In this conversation, we explore how mindfulness manifests in her training, acting process, and daily life and what it takes to stay centered while navigating high-performance environments both on screen and off.

Angela Stubbs: You play Sola, a German nanny and kung-fu practitioner on the most recent season of The Righteous Gemstones.  Can you discuss what initially drew you to the character Sola, which characteristics you share with her, and how your day-to-day personality differs from hers?

Kerstin Schulze: When I first received the script and audition notice for Sola, the description called for a tall, German or Scandinavian woman who could do kung fu and was very centered. And immediately, I thought—this is me. I felt such a strong connection to the character; I didn’t have to imagine how she might feel because, in so many ways, I’ve lived her experience. I’ve always been a caretaker and a nurturer at heart. Physically, I’m strong, and with over 30 years spent helping people feel better about themselves, I understood Sola’s mission on a deep level. She’s all about helping others—and that resonated with me completely.What I loved about Sola is that she’s grounded and nurturing, yet tough. When I built her backstory, I imagined she came from a wealthy European family where, despite having everything, she felt emotionally neglected. That gave her a purpose: to work with families, not for money, but to help children find stability and bring broken homes back together. That motivation shaped how I played her.

I understood Sola’s mission on a deep level. She’s all about helping others—and that resonated with me completely.

I also had a very specific vision for her look. I drew inspiration from Mrs. Bower in Frankenstein—very German, very stern, always put together. The show actually used that exact look in the final version, which I loved.The range they gave her made the role special—from the intense fight scenes to her emotional connection with Baby Billy in the end. That moment where she tells him, “They need you,” was so powerful. And her bond with Tiffany, this sweet, pure soul, felt incredibly meaningful. Tiffany’s innocence and sincerity brought out the protector in Sola, and I connected to the purity and depth of that relationship.

Sola feels like such a grounded and self-aware character, and it struck me that to portray someone like her convincingly, an actor has to bring a real depth of presence and awareness. That kind of groundedness can come from life experience, mindfulness, or even physical practices like kung fu, which plays a key role in who Sola is.This has me wondering about the duality of preparing for the physical demands of kung fu while cultivating the inner awareness and emotional depth needed to embody Sola on set, especially amid the chaos and energy of filming.

Even before I got the role, I was deeply involved in martial arts and mindfulness practices like meditation. I meditate daily—it’s a non-negotiable part of my life. I use it to ground myself, and I really believe in the power of positive affirmations. When my mind starts drifting into negative thoughts, I try to redirect them. That daily practice of mindfulness helped me stay centered not just in life, but especially on set, where there’s so much chaos happening around you.When you’re filming, there are hundreds of people on set—cameras, directors, crew—so having those tools came in handy. I could focus, block out all the distractions, and just be present in Sola’s world. It allowed me to connect deeply with who she is and to respond authentically, especially in scenes with Baby Billy. The groundedness people see in Sola on screen is the groundedness I’ve worked hard to cultivate in myself.

That daily practice of mindfulness helped me stay centered not just in life, but especially on set, where there’s so much chaos happening around you.

But I didn’t always have that. It started after my divorce, when I was 40. That was a turning point for me. I went to therapy, I committed to meditation, and I did a lot of inner work to understand myself more clearly. I had to ask hard questions, like why I chose a relationship that was so negative. That journey toward self-awareness changed everything for me. And now, 10 years later, I feel like the universe brought me this role because it reflects precisely where I am in life. Sola is grounded, purposeful, and strong—and so am I.

Read the full interview here.