Charisma Carpenter

Charisma Carpenter is an American actress best known for her roles as Cordelia Chase in the supernatural drama series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and its spin-off “Angel,” and as Kyra in “Charmed.” She has also appeared in films such as “The Expendables” franchise, “See No Evil,” and “The Lying Game.”

Carpenter first began acting at age 19 when she landed a role on the soap opera “Malibu Shores.” After appearing in various commercials and music videos, she had her first major role in the 1997 action film “Escape from L.A.,” starring Kurt Russell. From 1998 to 1999, she portrayed Cordelia Chase on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” before moving on to star in its spin-off series “Angel” from 1999 to 2004. Her character was a fan favorite throughout both shows’ runs.

Carpenter then went on to appear in various films such as “See No Evil” (2006), “Bound” (2009), “The Expendables” (2010) and its sequel “The Expendables 2” (2012), “Succubus: Hell Bent” (2007) and “90210 Shark Attack” (2010). She also had a recurring role on ABC Family’s “The Lying Game” (2011–2013) as Rebecca Sewell alongside Alexandra Chando and Allie Gonino. In 2015, she returned to TV with a guest appearance on two episodes of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

Most recently, Carpenter has been cast in several independent films including “Unconventional” (2019), “Night Walkers” (2018) and “Love boat: A Cruise Ship Family Reunion” (2020). She continues to work steadily throughout Hollywood while using her platform to bring attention to issues that are important to her such as animal rights advocacy and women’s empowerment initiatives.

Iconic Character – Cordelia Chase on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” & “Angel”

For many fans, Charisma’s role as Cordelia Chase on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” will always be a favorite. We highlighted this character in our “TV Girlfriends” feature in the “High Maintenance Hotties” category. Here’s what we said about the Cordelia Chase character:

To call Cordelia Chase high-maintenance is to grossly understate the point. She’s not just high-maintenance – she’s unfathomable. She has the looks of a goddess, so it made sense that she would literally become a goddess – and, true to Cordy tradition, she found it dreadfully boring – but while her head may be saying “gimme cash,” her heart has always had more noble intentions, causing her to fall for a geek, a demon and a vampire. So which version of Cordelia is the real Cordelia? Is she the status-obsessed social climber, or the thoughtful, vulnerable soul that reveals itself in the odd unguarded moment? Does her real affection for you come when she’s being sweet, or when she’s putting you down? You may never find out the answers to those questions, but when dealing with someone so stunningly beautiful, you won’t think twice about spending the rest of your life trying to figure them out.

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Our editors penned a feature titled “Unnecessary Liaisons: 15 TV Couplings That Never Should Have Happened,” and of course we included Conor and Cordelia hooking up in “Angel”:

When you talk about “relationships from hell,” it doesn’t get that much more literal than this particular romance from the “Buffy” spin-off’s penultimate season. Viewers screamed, and not in a good way, when heroic vampire Angel’s theoretically impossible teenage human son Conor (Vincent Kartheiser) took up with 20-something demon hunter Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter). Given that Cordy had been in a quasi-parental role with the barely-of-age Conor and had occasionally committed osculation with his vamp dad, the term “ick!” and references to Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn filled fan message boards. In any case, the whole thing was dreadfully out of character for the increasingly compassionate and morally astute Ms. Chase.

Since this is Joss Whedon’s Buffyverse, the real Cordy’s consciousness was supernaturally out of the loop and the whole thing turned out to be a set-up for a creepy pregnancy (more cries of “ick!”) and the birth of a terrifying goddess-gone-wrong, Jasmine (Gina Torres). Some of us dug the Jasmine plot line, but it was one awfully long walk getting there and subjected the actors to no end of fan poutrage. Vincent Kartheiser did, however, ultimately attain his karmic reward as weaselly Pete Campbell of “Mad Men,” where he regularly makes viewers go “ick!,” and like it. – Bob Westal