Charisma Lee Carpenter (born July 23, 1970) is an American actress. She is best known for playing the character Cordelia Chase in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel.

Early life

Carpenter was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, the youngest child of Christine, a property manager, and Don Carpenter, a salesman. She is of Cherokee, Spanish, and Irish ancestry.Carpenter attended Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas. When she was 15, her family moved to Rosarito city, Mexico and then to San Diego where she attended Bonita Vista High School and Chula Vista School of the Creative and Performing Arts. After graduation, Carpenter traveled throughout Europe. Once she returned to San Diego again, she worked as a video store clerk, an aerobics instructor, and in property management. In 1991, she was a San Diego Charger cheerleader, before beginning her Hollywood career. In 1992, she moved to Los Angeles.

Career

Carpenter was discovered by a commercial agent while waiting tables in Los Angeles to save money for her college education. This led to her role on theatrical productions and more than twenty commercials. She made her first television role in 1994 by appearing in an episode of Baywatch. Shortly after that, she landed a starring role on Aaron Spelling's short-lived soap opera Malibu Shores.

In 1997, Carpenter auditioned for the title role in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer but instead was cast as Cordelia Chase, a snobby and popular high school student. After three seasons on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Carpenter was offered an even larger role as the same character on the spin-off series Angel along with David Boreanaz. She played Cordelia Chase for three seasons on Buffy from 1997 to 1999 and four seasons on Angel from 1999 to 2003. Although her character leaves the series during Angel's fourth season, Carpenter returned for the 100th episode in the fifth and final season because she felt that Cordelia's fans deserved closure after the controversy of her unexplained removal from the show.

In the June 2004 issue of Playboy Magazine, Carpenter appeared in a ten-page nude layout and on the cover. When asked by People Magazine in 2005 about her nude pictorial and whether or not she would ever pose for Playboy again, she replied "I don't know. I did Playboy for a very specific reason. Not only was it a good financial move, but it was about the place I was at in my life. I had just had my son [Donovan] and I'd gained 50 lbs. during pregnancy. I wanted to get back to my old self. I wanted to feel desirable and sexy. So I thought, 'What if I went full throttle?'"

Also in 2004, Carpenter had a three episode guest appearance on the TV show Charmed as a psychic demon called The Seer and played a recurring role on NBC's Miss Match, appearing in four episodes. She also had a recurring role as Kendall Casablancas in the TV series Veronica Mars for the 2005-2006 season, appearing in 11 episodes. Carpenter guest-starred in the season finale of ABC Family's television show Greek and according to TV Guide will reprise her role in the Season 2 premiere. According to TV Guide in September 2007, she was set to join the cast of The Apprentice: Celebrity Edition, but instead chose to do a guest appearance on the show Back to You as well as a recurring role on the short-lived series Big Shots.

Carpenter has starred in an assortment of movies including the sex comedy What Boys Like, the horror film Voodoo Moon, the romantic comedy See Jane Date, and Relative Chaos on ABC Family, co-starring with Nicholas Brendon, who was also one of her co-stars from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The mysteries "Flirting with Danger" and "Cheaters' Club" on Lifetime Television.

On March 20, 2008, Paley Fest hosted a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunion. Carpenter attended the event alongside Buffy creator Joss Whedon, producer Marti Noxon, and other Buffy alumni including Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, James Marsters, Emma Caulfield, Amber Benson, Seth Green, and Michelle Trachtenberg.

Personal life

She married former bellhop Damian Hardy on October 5, 2002. They had a son named Donavan Charles Hardy who was born on March 24, 2003. Carpenter and Hardy separated in late 2007 and she filed for divorce. Their divorce was made final in July 2008.

As a fitness enthusiast, her outdoor hobbies are biking, rollerblading, horseback riding, hiking, rock climbing, and sky-diving. Carpenter lives in Los Angeles.

Filmography

TV series

Year	TV Show	Role	Status	Notes
1994	Baywatch	Wendie Sanders	Guest Star	Season 5, Episode 5
1995	Boy Meets World	Caterer	Guest Star	Season 3, Episode 10
1996	Malibu Shores	Ashley Green	Regular	Show lasted 10 episodes
1997-1999	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Cordelia Chase	Regular (Seasons 1-3)	Appeared in 56 episodes
1999	Hey Arnold!	Simone, a 6th grader	Guest Star (Voice)	Season 4, Episode 5 ("Phoebe Skips")
1999-2004	Angel	Cordelia Chase	Regular (Seasons 1-4), Special Guest Star*	Appeared in 86 episodes
2001	Strange Frequency	Jules	Guest Star	Season 1, Episode 12
2003	Miss Match	Serena Lockner	Special Guest Star	Appeared in 4 episodes
2004	Like Cats and Dogs	Sarah	Regular	Rejected UPN sitcom pilot
2004	The Division	Emma Campbell	Guest Star	Season 4, Episode 14
2004	Charmed	Kira / The Seer	Guest Star	Season 7, Episodes 3,5 & 10
2004	LAX	Julie Random	Special Guest Star	Season 1, Episode 9
2005-2006	Veronica Mars	Kendall Casablancas	Guest Star	Appeared in 11 episodes
2007	Greek	Tegan Walker	Guest Star	Season 1, Episode 10 / Season 2, Episode 1
2007	Back to You	Brooke Schimmel	Guest Star	Season 1, Episode 6
2007	Big Shots	Heather/Janelle Johns	Special Guest Star/Recurring Character	Season 1, Episodes 09 &11

Movies

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1995-1996	Josh Kirby... Time Warrior!	Beth Sullivan	3 Movie Series, Direct to Video
2001	What Boys Like	Kim	Release in Europe as The Groomsmen
2003	See Jane Date	Jane Grant	ABC Family Original Movie
2005	Voodoo Moon	Heather	IDT Entertainment
2006	Flirting with Danger	Laura Clifford	Lifetime Movie
2006	Cheaters' Club	Linda Stern	Lifetime Movie
2006	Relative Chaos	Katherine	ABC Family Original Movie

See also

• National Football League Cheerleading

References

External links

• Charisma Carpenter Feature Story
• Charisma Carpenter at the Internet Movie Database