Welcome to Shondaland, Stefania Spampinato! In early August, ABC announced the 35-year-old Italian actress has officially joined the Grey’s Anatomy Season 14 cast as Dr. Andrew DeLuca’s sister, Dr. Carina DeLuca — and, frankly, we couldn’t be more excited about Stefania’s addition to the show! Scroll down to see four huge reasons why we think Stefania is going to be your new favorite Grey’s star.

She’s been on TV before

Stefania got her showbiz start back in 2006 and has since added 26 acting credits to her name. In 2014, she played a dancer on Glee. She’s also guest-starred on TV shows including Chasing Skirts, Less Is More, Satisfaction, and Mr and Mrs Smit. Additionally, Stefania has appeared in movies Two Wolves, The Gods, and _Off the Grid _ and currently has several new projects in the works.

Her career beginnings were awesome

Many years before she landed her breakout acting role, Stefania — who grew up in Belpasso, Sicily — began dancing at age six. Her parents recognized their daughter’s passion for the arts at a young age and her mom began making Stefania’s recital costumes so they could afford her dance tuition. After graduating from high school, Stefania moved to Milan to attend college and later earned a BA in performing arts. The rising star then traveled around the world — Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Berlin were just a few cities she visited! — to perform with big names like Kylie Minogue and Leona Lewis. In 2011, Stefania bought a one-way ticket to LA and the rest is history!

Her co-star Giacomo Gianniotti already loves her

Since Stefania joined Grey’s to play DeLuca’s sister, she’s had to work closely with co-star Giacomo — and, thankfully, the two have really hit it off! “I can’t wait for you guys to meet her. She’s lovely. She’s going to be a great new addition to the show,” Giacomo said in a recent interview.

As for Stefania’s character, Carina? Giacomo has said that DeLuca’s sister will really shake things up at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. The character made her Grey’s debut on the Season 14 premiere episode on Thursday, Sept. 28 after meeting — and hooking up with! — Dr. Arizona Robbins. It was later revealed that Carina is an OBGYN and she came to Seattle to study womens’ brains during sexual orgasms. “[She’s] going to keep a lot of the doctors on their toes, make some doctors uncomfortable [and] some people will be glad about [her coming on]. She’ll stir things up with a European background and take on medicine. She comes from Italy, as my character is Italian, and you get to see us exchanging some blows in Italian, which will be very interesting,” Giacomo said of Stefania’s addition to the show.

She’s super proud to be playing Carina

After landing her Grey’s role, Stefania has taken to Instagram many times to gush about her new gig. First, she posted an adorable pic of herself with co-star Giacomo. Then, a few days, later, she proudly shared a snapshot of an article about her joining the hit medical drama. Stefania later posed on-set with Grey’s stars Caterina Scorsone (Amelia Shepherd), Kevin McKidd (Owen Hunt), and Giacomo. She captioned the cute pic, “So incredibly excited to share the set with these great artists!” And, just a few days ago, Stefania posted another pic of herself posing beside her trailer. “Just a tiny bit excited to be on set again!” she captioned the pic.

Just before the Season 14 premiere of Grey’s, the cast celebrated the show’s 300th episode with an epic party — and Stefania loved posting pics from the fun event on her Instagram! “Beyond excited to share such a special moment with this wonderful family, thank you… [to] the whole [Grey’s Anatomy] team for making my dream come true!” she captioned one pic. She later posted another photo of herself posing with some of her new castmates. “So honored to share the set with these incredible, beautiful and inspiring ladies,” she wrote. We’re so excited to see Stefania on Grey’s!

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