Charisma Carpenter

Charisma Carpenter is an actress who portrayed Cordelia Chase on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel television series.

Career[]

In 1997, Carpenter auditioned for the title role of Buffy Summers^[1] in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but instead she was cast as Cordelia Chase, a snobby and popular high school student.

Carpenter has a large scar on her belly from a childhood accident; when she was five years old, Carpenter was playing around a swimming pool that was still under construction, and she fell onto a piece of rebar.^[2] The scar was incorporated into her character when Cordelia fell onto an exposed piece of rebar in the episode "Lovers Walk."

In 1999, Carpenter read the audio format version of the Buffyverse novel Immortal, written by Christopher Golden.

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 (Angel). She played her Cordelia Chase character as a regular for four seasons on the series. Although her character leaves the series before the final season of Angel, Carpenter returned for the 100th episode "You're Welcome"; she was initially reluctant to return because she was worried that they would kill off her character, but she agreed to come back after reading the script, stating it was "bittersweet... a love letter to Cordelia."^[3]

Carpenter attended the attended the PaleyFest Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reunion panel in 2008, the Entertainment Weekly Cast Reunions: Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 2017 and Entertainment Weekly Cast Reunions: Angel in 2019.

Carpenter is also known for her roles as Kyra in Charmed (2004), Kendall Casablancas in Veronica Mars (2005–2006), Rebecca Sewell in The Lying Game (2012–2013), and Lacy in The Expendables film series (2010–2012).

In February 2021, Carpenter spoke out against Joss Whedon in support of Ray Fisher, who also claimed to have experienced a toxic environment at the hands of the director.^[4]

In 2023, Carpenter returned as a Slayer version of Cordelia in the Audible audio series Slayers: A Buffyverse Story. In June 2025, she released the first episode of her podcast The Bitch Is Back.

Buffyverse credits[]

Episodes[]

Carpenter was a regular in the first three seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and had an uncredited appearance in archive footage, appearing in 55 episodes of the series. She was also a regular for the first four seasons of Angel and made a special guest star appearance in the 100th episode, followed by two uncredited appearances in archive footage, appearing in 88 episodes of the series. In addition to playing cheerleader-then-seer Cordelia, Carpenter portrayed Jasmine and the Prima Ballerina when they possessed her character.