Charisma Carpenter

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 itsspin-off Angel, for which she was nominated for four Saturn Awards. Her most recent role was playing opposite Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham in The Expendables (2010).

Early life

Carpenter was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, the daughter of Chris, a bird sanctuary worker, and Don Carpenter, a salesman. Carpenter attended Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas; she was also a part of a song-and-dance troupe which performed in the Las Vegas area beginning when she was nine.When she was 15, her family moved to Rosarito city, Mexicoand 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.

Carpenter at the 2005 Comic-Con

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 four seasons on Angel. 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 2004, Carpenter had a three episode guest appearance on the TV show Charmed as a psychic demon^[10] 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 first season finale of ABC Family's television show Greek and reprised her role in two episodes of Season 2. 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 also had a guest appearance in an April 2009 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

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

Carpenter has starred in an assortment of made-for-tv and direct-to-video movies including the sex comedy What Boys Like, the horror filmVoodoo Moon, and the romantic comedies See Jane Date and Relative Chaos on ABC Family (the latter of which co-starred Nicholas Brendon who was also one of her co-stars from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). She also appeared in the mysteries Flirting with Danger andCheaters' Club on Lifetime Television and is starring in the Syfy movie House of Bones broadcast in 2010, around the same time as her guest spot in Legend of the Seeker.

Also in 2009, Carpenter starred in production company Red Sparrow's first film, Psychosis, release date unknown. In August 2010, she had a supporting role in The Expendables, a Sylvester Stallone-written/directed film.^[15]

After the success of The Expendables, Carpenter was cast as the lead female character in Michael Madsen's "The Human Factor" ^[16] and in the indie thriller "Crash Site" ^[17]

Playboy

In the June 2004 issue of Playboy magazine, Carpenter appeared in a ten-page nude layout and on the cover.When asked by Peoplemagazine 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 Playboyfor 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?'"

Personal life

Carpenter married Damian Hardy on October 5, 2002. On March 24, 2003, Carpenter gave birth to a son named Donovan Charles Hardy. In late 2007, the couple separated and 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.

Filmography

TV series

Year	Series	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 54 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), guest star (season 5)	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	Back to You	Brooke Schimmel	Guest star	1.06 – "Gracie's Bully"
2007	Big Shots	Heather/Janelle Johns	Recurring character	1.09 – "The Better Man" 1.10 – "Sex Be Not Proud" 1.11 – "Who's the Boss?"
2007–2011	Greek	Tegan Walker	Recurring character	1.10 – "Black & White and Read All Over" 2.01 – "Brothers and Sisters" 2.06 – "See You Next Time, Sisters!" 4.02 - "Fools Rush In"
2009	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Mink	Guest Star	The Descent of Man
2009	Legend of the Seeker	Trianna	Guest Star	2.01 – "Marked"

Films

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1995–1996	Josh Kirby... Time Warrior!	Beth Sullivan	3 movie series, Direct to video
2001	What Boys Like	Kim	Released 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
2009	House of Bones	Heather Wilkinson	Syfy Channel Original Movie
2009	Psychosis (formerlyVivid)	Susan Carter	Red Sparrow's first film
2010	The Expendables	Lacy	Lionsgate Films
2011	A Family Again	Rita Sanders	Currently in post production, originally titled "Crash Site"
2011	TBA indie thriller	TBA	On December 8th 2010 Carpenter tweeted that she was currently shooting a yet unannounced thriller in British Columbia.
2011	The Human Factor	Lori Stoltz	Michael Madsen's directorial debut, filming set to begin spring 2011

Other titles

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
2002	Change Up	Voice over–Narrator
2010	The Art of Seduction: Vampire Lore	Host	included as an extra on the "Lost Boys: The Thirst" dvd

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