This fall, Natalia Baron joins the cast of Boston Public as Miss Carmen Torres. "I'm a spicy Latina student teacher," the newbie tells TV Guide Online. "She's still in college and she comes in speaking Spanish the whole way, even though she's teaching physics, not Spanish!"

What gives with Carmen livin' la vida loca en Español? "She believes that all the kids should learn Spanish — as well as all the teachers — because we're fighting in a bilingual job market," Baron smiles. "So she shakes things up."

Baron's Boston trip marks her first professional acting gig. After high school, the 21-year-old Miami native went to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts for a semester, then moved out to L.A. and briefly attended USC. Just six months after her West Coast transplant, she charmed David E. Kelley's people and landed this plum role.

"I originally read for the new paralegal on The Practice," Baron says, "but Rhona Mitra ended up doing that part. So then I tested for Boston Public, and I'm the new Latina teacher. She's young, but she thinks she knows everything. I think I can relate."

The star trip of landing a regular gig on TV series — the parties, photo shoots, press interviews, etc. — can be heady for a raw rookie. "It's a whole out of body experience," she laughs. "It's fun. I think I came out of the womb thinking I was the center of attention, but when that actually confronts you, it's kind of bizarre."