Charisma Carpenter played Cordelia Chase. Charisma moved to Los Angeles from Las Vegas (where she was born) and met her agent whilst working as a waitress. She took acting classes and was then cast in several commercials, including one for Secret deodorant which ran for a long time. Charisma then got a part in an episode of Baywatch, which Aaron Spelling saw and then offered her a part on Malibu Shores.
Charisma was named after an Avon perfume, and was called Chrissy as a child.
Charisma auditioned for the part of Buffy but was eventually offered the role of Cordelia which took her from Sunnydale to L.A. in the spin-off Angel, in which her character evolved amazingly. The character of Cordelia appeared in only one episode in the series’ fifth season, much to the anger of fans.
Charisma and her husband Damian Hardy had a baby boy named Donovan Charles Hardy in March 2003. She has since appeared in See Jane Date, Charmed, Veronica Mars and Miss Match.
Related episodes: Angel Episodes, Buffy Episodes
Comments on this trivia
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jazzcap on July 27th, 2005 at 6:36 am
what does Cordelia mean in the Season 2 episode “Killed by Death” when she says. “As long as she’s here she should take care of that thing on her face. You know that thing?” What is on Buffy’s face that she needs to take care of?
ant4buffy on July 27th, 2005 at 7:32 am
Buffy’s nose I reckon. it has a slight bump in it. That’s what I think anyway.
The_True_Xander on November 3rd, 2005 at 11:32 pm
How old is Charisma? It doesn’t say here, unless I’m incredibly blind and stupid.
Smash on November 3rd, 2005 at 11:50 pm
She’s 35 right now. It says up there her date of birth is July 23, 1970, you probably just missed it.
Dawn on November 17th, 2005 at 1:31 am
she is beautiful…
and I loved Charisma more on Buffy then in Angel
The_True_Xander on November 17th, 2005 at 9:08 pm
Yeah I loved her on Buffy more as well… she was just so mean!
Oh, and thanks Smash. I was right: I am blind and stupid.
Dawn on November 18th, 2005 at 4:14 pm
she was mean… and kind and funny and chaotic in Buffy… thats the REAL cordy :)
and she looks REALLY REALLY good for her age…
somethingblue on November 19th, 2005 at 4:49 pm
“in the Season 2 episode
ildjarn on November 19th, 2005 at 5:56 pm
I liked her more in Angel than in Buffy. In Buffy, she just was a sidekick, in Angel her character gets developed a lot more. Besides, I absolutely loved her first lines in Angel (Hey Angel! Are you still *argh*?)
Dawn on November 20th, 2005 at 11:59 pm
I loved that first line 2… real cordy…
but after that she became really diffrent not the cordy we knew from Buffy… and thats good a character needs to grow… I still LOVED her in Angel… but liked her more in Buffy
Mr.Pointy on February 15th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
I liked Cordy more in Angel, she seemed to have more of a role. In Buffy she was this high maitenance girl, but in Angel she had a role, mostly i think because of the visions she was given. :]
MagicBone on February 16th, 2006 at 5:58 am
I liked her in seasons one and two of Angel but not that much afterwards. She seemed unCordelia-like in season three of Angel and in season four, she was plain creepy. All having sex with Connor and killing people and trying to kill everyone else and her weird thing about our child” and “our family” and “our baby.” That freaked me out. I know she was possessed and everything but still. Could she have possibly been less like the wife/groupie of an imprisoned serial killer and more … um, not?
outforawalkbitch on August 20th, 2006 at 12:52 am
She’s talking about Sarah’s nose…
whatsyourdamage on October 25th, 2006 at 4:54 am
I thought the joke about that line was that there’s obviously nothing wrong with Buffy’s face.
whatsyourdamage on October 25th, 2006 at 4:55 am
That sounded like I was saying the people above me were wrong… that’s not how I meant it to sound. I meant that was what I thought but what you said makes more sense and… yeah, sorry.
Buffyfan29 on December 6th, 2006 at 10:02 pm
I agree with whatsyourdamage concerning Cordy’s line in Killed by Death.
I liked her character in both Buffy & Angel. By Angel season 2 there was a pretty dramatic change, although I thought that was pretty well explained in the final episode of season 1, “To Shanshu in L.A.” when she was temporarily cursed with unending visions.
Buffyfan29 on December 6th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
By the way I was just as unhappy as everyone else about Charisma only appearing in one episode of season 5. She was my favorite character of seasons 1-3, although she did get a little creepy in season 4, being possesed and all.
Here’s to hoping her career will continue to go forward.
Boyslayer on March 27th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
she was meant to be creepy..if anything it just prooved that charisma is amazing…guys, ur all buffy fans…get with it…when something scares you, its meant to, when something makes u laugh, its meant to, when something creeps u out, its meant to…cordelia was this perfectly written and acted character for 5 years, she took a jourey during season 3…she was used by the powers and in season 4 it wasn’t her. just like illiria wasn’t fred and the buffybot wasn’t buffy…would it have helped if jasmine had sparks coming out of cordy’s stomach or if she made her turn blue? im sorry..i just love cordelia and charisma!! charisma did nothing wrong…and she made you’re welcome so exciting..it was like, angel, relax, im here now and btw has this always been your show cuz im a kick ass babe!!
Jess on April 5th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Boyslayer - I don’t think anyone is saying there was anything wrong with Charisma’s acting at all. Quite the opposite in fact. I think the general consensus is that Charisma/Cordelia was very much missed in season 5.