GCE Exclusive: Interview with Ksenia Solo

We caught up with the actress during the filming of season 4.

The day was hectic as the cast and crew of Lost Girl put the finishing touches on the end of season four. During the visit we not only got to tour different sets (such as Bo’s bedroom and Trick’s lair), but we got to meet the writing team behind the show and were allowed to spend time in the ‘police department’. It was in the police department that I had the opportunity to speak briefly with Ksenia about her character Kenzi, how she perceives her character and what attracted her to the role.

How do you see Kenzi as a person from an outside perspective?

She wears her heart on her sleeve. Even though she’s had a really hard upbringing and life, she lives to live. She’s one of those people that’s full of sunshine even when everything is really hard and dark and there’s evil all around in many different facets. She’s so full of life and she’s brave and has a great sense of humor. She’s all around a person I look up to and try to learn from. Being a girl who has grown up on the streets alone and managed to get out of there and have a straight head on her shoulders, I think I admire that a lot.

Ksenia Solo as Kenzi.
Image Source: Showcase

Is that what initially attracted you to the role?

It’s funny because when I started the show, Kenzi wasn’t the Kenzi as we know her today. I don’t know if anyone really knew who Kenzi was going to turn out to be. I think everyone here [the creative team] and Michelle, who actually created these characters; we’ve always kind of joked that Kenzi is her heart and her joy and her little baby. She created someone who had the ability to grow and evolve in a really great, grand way. Over the years I’ve just been discovering the character which has been a joy because you don’t get to do that on TV a lot. Sometimes it feels like you are stuck with the same thing over and over again; it’s the nature of television. But with Kenzi, as I’ve grown and evolved over the years, I feel like she has too.

Is there any part of Kenzi you feel is missing?

I think we’ve never really explored her past. We’ve only heard of her living on the streets and having a tough time with her family. In season four we get to dive into that a little more. There’s one episode where Kenzi’s past catches up with her full force and I think that was always missing for me, not getting to explore her past enough and what brought her to the streets. What made her a thief and what we know of her. That’s what I always thought was missing but I’m happy that we got to—for a tiny little bit—we got to dive into that more this season.

Ksenia shows off her tango skills with Kris Holden-Ried and KC Collins.
Image Source: Showcase

An an actress, did you create your own back story for Kenzi at first to fill in the missing information?

Of course and I think that’s a big part of an actor’s preparation is really knowing who you are playing and where they come from. So in my own head I have my own ideas and I don’t know if that’s always succinct with what the writers know and what their plans are but in my own world, I have my own ideas of who Kenzi is and where she comes from.

With Anna, we talked about getting scripts and trying not to read ahead to see what’s in store for your character. Do you avoid it or read the script right when you get it?

When we start the season we have a general idea of what the character arc will be. I like to know because I like to know where I’m headed; it helps with the present moment. I do like to know where Kenzi is headed because I want to understand her journey a little bit more.

Thank you Ksenia for the opportunity! You can follow her on Twitter at @KseniaSolo and catch her as Kenzi every week on Showcase at 10PM ET/PT or on SyFy at 8/9c.