Charisma Carpenter

Charisma Carpenter, 31, is reportedly nothing like her character. Named after an Avon perfume, she was born in Las Vegas and lived there until she was fifteen, when her family moved to Mexico, and then to a San Diego suburb. Throughout the course of all this moving, Charisma attended three high schools: Gorman Catholic High School in Las Vegas, Bonita High School near San Diego, and the Chula Vista High School of the Creative and Performing Arts in San Diego, where she graduated in 1988 with an emphasis in classical dance. Charisma was a fairly average teenager, with her share of bad grades and broken curfews. She wasn't overwhelmingly popular, but she was a cheerleader and a member of the homecoming court. After high school, she spent some time in Europe and then entered community college in San Diego, working at various points as a waitress, a property manager, a video store clerk, an aerobics instructor, and a San Diego Chargers Cheerleader. Eventually, she moved to Los Angeles, where she was introduced to a commercial agent while working as a waitress. She started taking acting classes for the first time, and discovered that she loved acting and could actually make a living at it. She appeared in numerous commercials and eventually got a guest spot on "Baywatch." Aaron Spelling saw her and cast her as mega-bitch Ashley Green in his short-lived series, "Malibu Shores." While working on that show, she went to audition for the role of Buffy on "BtVS," but they also had her read for Cordelia, which she was not prepared for. Charisma enjoys ballet, horseback riding, rollerblading, hiking, and rock-climbing, and has even skydived. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her Golden Retriever.