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Charisma Carpenter (born July 23, 1970 in UsefulNotes/LasVegas, Nevada) is an American actress.

She is of French, German and Spanish heritage. Prior to getting into her acting career, she and her friends were attacked by [[DirtyCop police officer]]/SerialRapist Henry Hubbard Jr. but managed to fend him off (though one friend was shot in the fight, he recovered from his injuries). Carpenter also retrieved some crucial evidence Hubbard left behind, i.e. his police-issue flashlight, aiding greatly in Hubbard's arrest and later conviction. She is thus a real life hero along with her fame from her roles.

She's best known as Cordelia Chase from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/{{Angel}}'', as well as Creator/JasonStatham's girlfriend, Lacy, in ''Film/TheExpendables'' and [[Film/TheExpendables2 its first sequel]], and as Susan in the 2010 horror film ''Psychosis''.
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!!Roles:

* Wendy Sanders on ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'' (1 episode, 1994)
* Cordelia Chase on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/{{Angel}}'' (1997-2004)
* Simone (voice) on ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' ("Phoebe Skips", 1999)
* Kira/The Seer on ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' (3 episodes, 2004)
* Kendall Casablancas on ''Series/VeronicaMars'' (2005-06)
* Tegan Walker on ''Series/{{Greek}}'' (recurring character, 2007-11)
* Mink on ''Series/{{CSI}}'' ("The Descent of Man", 2009)
* Trianna on ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'' ("Marked", 2009)
* Nicki on ''Series/BurnNotice'' ("Better Halves", 2011)
* Maggie Stark on ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' ("Shut Up, Dr. Phil", 2011)
* Annie "Rebecca" Sewell on ''Series/TheLyingGame'' (2012)
* Michelle Mulan in ''Film/{{Bound|2015}}'' (2015)
* Anne in ''Film/MommysSecret'' (2016)

!!Tropes associated with her work:

* ActorSharedBackground:[[invoked]] She was a cheerleader, like her character Cordelia Chase.
* AdvertisedExtra: A lot of hype was made about her starring in ''Series/ScreamQueens2015''. She has five minutes of screen time in the second episode. Chanel #2 was supposedly intended to have a bigger role that then got cut down when Ariana Grande had to go on tour, and Charisma was playing her mother, so it's possible the role was originally larger.
* BabyNameTrendStarter: [[invoked]] She's been told numerous times by fans that they named their daughters Cordelia in honour of her character.
* CastTheRunnerUp:[[invoked]] She had been auditioning for the role of Buffy Summers, and was reluctant to take the role of Cordelia - as she was getting tired of playing bitchy characters. Her agent persuaded her to take it.
* CastingGag: On ''Charmed'' she plays a demon seer who longs to be human - the reverse of her role on ''Angel''.
* CreatorBacklash:
** She really disliked the Season 4 storyline of ''Angel'' involving the possessed Cordelia sleeping with Connor. She found it creepy and hated filming it.
** Charisma eventually went public that Joss Whedon, the writer of Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer and {{Series/Angel}} emotionally abused the cast, especially Charisma. He mocked Charisma’s Catholic faith, bullied and belittled her during filming, often threatened to fire her, repeatedly called her “fat” while she was pregnant and when Joss Whedon discovered she was pregnant he ordered her into a meeting, demanding to know if she was going to “keep” the baby and tried pressuring her into an abortion when Charisma wanted to have a child. After this, though he kept Charisma on the show because of her popularity with fans, he bullied her even more by fat-shaming her as stated above, repeatedly spoke about how she deserved to be fired and eventually did fire Charisma. Several of Charisma’s cast mates (including Creator/SarahMichelleGellar herself) have supported Charisma and Charisma also claimed Joss Whedon often pitted the cast against each other.
* DawsonCasting: [[invoked]]
** Not so much anymore, but she was playing mid-twenty-somethings into her mid-thirties. She was a full decade older than her character on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/{{Angel}}''.
** Right before ''Buffy'', she did the TeenDrama ''Malibu Shores'', portraying a teenager at 25.
** She played 25-year-old Kendall on Series/VeronicaMars at 34.
* DyeingForYourArt: [[invoked]] She had brownish hair with blonde highlights when she was cast as Cordelia - the same colour as her female co-stars Creator/SarahMichelleGellar and Creator/AlysonHannigan. Hannigan went redhead, while Carpenter went dark brown.
* HideYourPregnancy: [[invoked]] Initially on ''Angel'' - with long coats and lots of black helping it along. Eventually her character's ''secret'' pregnancy became a plot point. But notably, after giving birth, Cordelia only appeared unconscious and from the shoulders up (as Charisma hadn't given birth yet).
* HostilityOnTheSet:[[invoked]] She eventually went public with emotional abuse she suffered from Joss Whedon on the sets of both ''Buffy'' and ''Angel'', accusing him of creating a toxic work environment and keeping everyone intimidated through bullying and manipulation. The low point for her was when she became pregnant during ''Angel'''s fourth season, and was called into a meeting where he demanded to know if she was going to "keep it". She was later dropped from the cast in between seasons because he was annoyed at having to rewrite the Season 4 storyline around the pregnancy. Other cast members who had worked with him publicly supported her.
* PopCultureUrbanLegends:[[invoked]] A long-standing rumor was that Charisma had auditioned for Paige in ''{{Series/Charmed 1998}}'' after Creator/ShannenDoherty was fired. This appears to be false, as Creator/HollyMarieCombs claims Creator/RoseMcGowan didn't audition and was offered the role straight away (she and Charisma are good friends, so she'd probably know if she did audition). Rose later confirmed that she didn't audition in her autobiography.
* PromotedToOpeningTitles: In ''Series/TheLyingGame'', she was just a recurring character in Season 1. She got bumped up to regular in Season 2.
* SeparatedAtBirthCasting:
** [[invoked]] Her role as [[spoiler:Sutton and Emma's birth mother]] on ''Series/TheLyingGame'' was supposed to be a secret, but everyone [[IKnewIt figured it out]] due to Carpenter's uncanny resemblance to Alexandra Chando.
** In ''Film/Bound2015'' Carpenter playing Michelle and Morgan Obenreder as her onscreen daughter Dara look similar enough to pass for this in reality.
* StarDerailingRole: The ''Film/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' {{Mockbuster}} ''Film/Bound2015'' seems to have been the final nail in the coffin for her Hollywood career as she has been relegated mainly to guest appearances and TV roles ever since.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:[[invoked]] She was apparently offered the role of Delilah in ''Film/TheFaculty''. As the character was an AlphaBitch (though her HiddenDepths are revealed), she turned it down for being too similar to Cordelia Chase.
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