Trevor Jackson said stepping into the world of Grey’s Anatomy was exciting.

After making several appearances on the long-running medical drama as the charismatic but arrogant Dr. Wes Bryant at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, the actor, 29, joined the show as a series regular in season 22.

While speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at the NAACP Image Awards in Pasadena, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 28, Jackson opens up about his breakout season.

“I was excited to be amongst such legendary people,” Jackson says. “But as soon as I got to set, everything went away because everybody was so sweet, so kind, so encouraging. And that’s all you can ask as an actor, is to be in a space like that.”

Jackson admits that his medical knowledge hasn’t increased all that much since being on the show. “If it was 0% before, it’s like 2% now,” he says. “I’ll be asking, I’m like, ‘How do I even say this word?’ I don’t even need to know what it means, just how do I say it?”

The characters in Grey’s Anatomy handle high-stakes medical cases all while naviagting twist and turns in their own personal lives. For Jackson, keeping the show’s spoilers under wraps is no problem.

“I’ve always been kind of good at keeping a nice poker face,” he says. “Because for me as a person and a consumer, I love surprises. Even trailers, I don’t like to watch trailers. I just like to know who’s in the movie and then I’ll go see it.”

The actor previously told Shondaland that it’s an “honor” to represent Black men working in the medical field, as about 3% of doctors in the United States are Black men.

“It’s truly a gift for me to join that lineage and open the door for people who can aspire to be that,” he expressed. “I am so happy to be part of this show.”

Jackson also explained that being on Grey’s Anatomy “just felt right.”

“I didn’t feel like an outcast,” he noted. “Everybody was just so cool. Obviously, I hope they enjoyed what I was doing on-screen, but off-screen too. I think just the type of person I am and the type of people they are, we just kind of meshed, and it felt right.”

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.