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 its spin-off Angel.

Carpenter was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she attended Bishop Gorman High School. She is of Cherokee, Irish, Scottish, and Spanish ancestry on her mother's side and French and German on her father's side.[citation needed] When she was 15, the family moved to Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico, and then to Chula Vista (a suburb of San Diego) where she attended Chula Vista High and Bonita Vista High. After graduation, she was a San Diego Chargers cheerleader in 1991 before beginning her Hollywood career. She had also dabbled in sky-diving.[1] She married her French fiancé Damien Hardy on October 5, 2002 and she gave birth to son Donavan Charles Hardy on March 24, 2003. Carpenter and Hardy separated late in 2007.[2] Carpenter has a large scar on her belly from a childhood accident. While five years old, and playing around a swimming pool that was still under construction, she fell onto a piece of rebar. The scar was incorporated into Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the episode "Lovers Walk", when her character fell onto an exposed piece of rebar.[3] Carpenter has four tattoos; a tribal sun on her lower back that represents life, a rosary on her left wrist as a reminder to stay centered, D² on the inside of her right wrist to represent the names of her husband and son, and the infinity symbol on her left ring finger beneath her wedding ring.

Carpenter was discovered by a commercial agent while working as a waitress. This led to several roles on TV advertisements. She made guest appearances in Baywatch and Miss Match, and she has had a role in Malibu Shores. Her best known role was that of Cordelia on TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.