Charisma Carpenter

Charisma Carpenter (born July 23rd 1970) is an American actor from America. She was Cordelia Chase in the series of supernatural drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-1999) and its spin-off series Angel (1999-2004). Also, she starred as Kyra in Charmed (2004) and as Kendall Casablanca's character on Veronica Mars (2005-2006), Rebecca Sewell in The Lying Game (2012-2013), and Lacy in The Expendables film series (2010-2012). Carpenter was born in Las Vegas, Nevada,[disputed - discuss] the daughter of Christine who was a bird sanctuary worker and Don Carpenter, a salesman. Carpenter is of Spanish (from the maternal grandfather), French and German descent. Carpenter was a student at Bishop Gorman High School located in Las Vegas. She was also a part of a singing and dance troupe that performed in the Las Vegas Valley. Carpenter relocated with her family to Rosario Beach in Baja California, Mexico, at age 15. She went to Bonita Vista High School and Chula Vista School of the Creative and Performing Arts. Carpenter was on a tour to Europe following her graduation. Carpenter returned to San Diego in 1991 and was employed as an aerobics instructor as well as a videostore clerk and property manager. In 1991, she worked as cheerleader for the San Diego Chargers football team. In 1992, she relocated to Los Angeles. She was swimming in San Diego with two male friends at the time that Henry Hubbard Jr., an ex-police officer from San Diego and serial rapist, attacked them. The two of them, Henry Hubbard Jr. and her comrades were shot in the struggle. Both survived. Hubbard was arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to 56 years of prison for a series of rapes and robberies. Carpenter took Hubbard's police-issue flashlight from the beach which he'd left at the scene, and the flashlight turned out to be one of the key pieces of evidence used against him.