NEW YORK -- Benjamin McKenzie says a mouthful with his eyes.

A flash of his baby blues can signal hurt, wariness, rage or defiance roiling within Ryan Atwood, the troubled teen he plays on Fox's "The O.C." Drawn into the privileged world of Orange County, Calif., Ryan is a tough but sensitive outsider struggling to fit in without compromise. The eyes say it all.

"He's the eyes and ears of the audience. He provides them with the entry into this world of glitz and glamour. He displays as much wisdom as anybody on the show. Basically, Ryan is an adult trapped in a kid's body -- that's my take on it," McKenzie says.

His viewers are taken with him. A 25-year-old newcomer with a compact frame and a facial resemblance to Russell Crowe, McKenzie has an old-soul intensity that has helped this serialized drama become one of the fall's most promising shows.

Meanwhile, he is emerging as a breakout star.

"I hit the lottery," says McKenzie, almost apologetically. "I know how fortunate I am. I mean, I think I do." He laughs at the wonder of it all and at himself. "I don't know! You know what I'm saying?"

As McKenzie's fans know, Ryan was a poor kid in a jam with the law who, in the series opener, was invited by public defender Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher) to live with his family in Orange County's Newport Beach cushiness, much to the surprise of his real estate developer wife (Kelly Rowan) and much to the delight of his brainy, awkward teenage son (Adam Brody).

Another key character: Marissa (Mischa Barton), the beautiful, tormented girl next door whose heart is torn between Ryan and her abusive boyfriend.

When viewers last saw Marissa, she was overdosed from sleeping pills and draped in the strong arms of Ryan, who had rescued her in a Tijuana alley during a holiday break gone terribly wrong.

But that was in mid-September. After airing seven episodes, "The O.C." took a break of its own so Fox could air postseason baseball. Now it's back at 8 p.m. Wednesdays to resume sun-splashed angst, wrongdoing and romance.

"Our show has extreme situations and extreme characters," allows McKenzie, "but you play it realistically."

This approach has helped make "The O.C." more than a youth-skewing follow-up to "Beverly Hills 90210." With its solid cast, the show has broad appeal.

In particular, Gallagher ("sex, lies and videotape" and "American Beauty") is effective as Ryan's surrogate father, a conflicted boy-man who surfs every morning, then applies his legal skills to help the downtrodden while his wife supports the family's swank lifestyle.

And as Ryan's new "brother," Brody (a recurring role on "The Gilmore Girls") makes nerdiness downright adorable.

"He has great comedic timing," McKenzie says. "I compare him to a young Tom Hanks. We bonded immediately."

Perhaps fittingly, McKenzie, a relative outsider in the acting world, was brought into the cast just a week before shooting of the pilot began last May.

An unknown, he had grown up in Austin, Texas, where he played high school football. He graduated from the University of Virginia, majoring in foreign affairs and economics. Then he moved to New York to be an actor but found it hard to break into show business. He came to L.A. in 2002.