Charisma Carpenter was born Charisma Lee Carpenter on July 23, 1970 in Las Vegas, Nevada where she lived with her family until the age of 15. They then moved to San Diego where she took classes at the School of the Creative and Performing Arts. She then took some time off after graduating from high school and went on a tour of Europe, before returning to San Diego, where she worked various odd jobs to support herself during her junior year of college. Carpenter began her acting career in several commercials and with a guest appearance on the show, Baywatch. Her biggest break came when she landed the role of Cordelia Chase on
Buffy the Vampire Slayer even though she had originally tried out for the part of Buffy. She got even more exposure as Cordelia in the Buffy spin-off,
Angel , where she was part of the regular cast for four of its five seasons.
Cordelia Chase or Cordy, played by Charisma Carpenter on Angel, started out as a sharp-tongued, fashion vixen who delighted in taunting Buffy and her less than popular team of vampire and demon slayers in Sunnydale. After an illicit relationship with Buffy's friend, Xander, initiates her into the world of evil supernatural beings, and following her father's incarceration due to tax evasion, the newly hard-up Cordelia moved to Los Angeles to find showbiz fame and fortune. When her dream failed to pan out, she ended up with Angel and together with a third member, Doyle, established Angel Investigations.
(Photo courtesy of The WB)