Charisma Carpenter was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 23, 1970. When she was 15 her family moved to Rosarito, Mexico, and then to Chula Vista, California. After graduation Charisma became a San Diego Chargers cheerleader until she decided to pursue acting in 1991. Her first role was on Baywatch as a guest star in 1994, after being discovered while she was waitressing. In 1996 she joined the cast of Malibu Shores as a regular cast member, however, the show only lasted 10 episodes. She then was cast as Cordelia Chase on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a mid-season replacement in 1997 and then moved onto the show Angel in 1999. Her role as Cordelia is still her most noted, and it lasted seven years until Charisma chose to leave the cast after season 4 to spend more time with her son. She had one further appearance in the 100th episode of the show.

After this she had a recurring role in Miss Match and also guest starred on several shows such as Charmed and LAX. For two seasons she played a recurring role on Veronica Mars as Kendall Casablancas, and currently has a recurring role in Big Shots.

Charisma married fiance Damien Hardy on October 5, 2002 and gave birth to a son, Donavan, on March 24, 2003. In August 2007, Charisma filed for divorce.