Necar Zadegan says "Emily Owens, M.D." has "a lot of heart"

Necar Zadegan, who stars in The CW's "Emily Owens, M.D." as the "icy" world-famous cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Gina Bandari, says the new drama is "funnier and wittier" than viewers may expect.

The series follows Emily Owens (Mamie Gummer) as she begins an internship at Denver Memorial Hospital. Emily is ready to break into a new chapter in her life and one might expect her to finally feel like a real grown-up. But instead, she finds herself feeling like the nerdy girl she once was in high school.

While the show is an hour-long drama, Zadegan told CBSNews.com that it has its lighter moments too.

"It's surprisingly funnier and wittier than you might initially expect the show to be," explained Zadegan, whose character is someone Emily looks up to and is intimidated by. "It's very warm and has got a lot of heart."

While Zadegan's character inspires fear in most of the interns onscreen, she says that, off camera, the cast members all get along.

"We really hit it off as soon as we met," said the 30-year-old Iranian-American actress. "We all love working together."

Zadegan says she especially loves working with the show's star, Gummer.

"Mamie is so subtle and natural and great to work with. I love to watch her work.," she said.

Gummer's very famous mother, Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep, has not come to visit the set, according to Zadegan. But Zadegan's own mother stopped by, something that the actress says was really special.

"I've been on a lot of sets and she's never come to visit a set actually. It's really nice to have a family member there," said the actress who played the .first lady in the final season of "24."

"Emily Owens, M.D." premieres Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.