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:: CHARISMA! ::

Ed Gross talks to Charisma Carpenter about Cordelia Chase's rise up the ranks from bitchy Buffy nemesis to luvvie prophet in Angel. And don't mention the mole.

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There's something damned sexy about an undeniably sexy woman who doesn't perceive herself as being sexy.

Despite dozens of adoring websites devoted to her, the sheer quantity of photographs that are ogled, drooled over and, er, coveted, by fans around the world and the fact that she scores quite highly on SFX's annual polls, sexy is not a word that Charisma Carpenter uses to define herself.

"It's a complicated question," the Angel star admits, "because I have moments when I feel sexy, definitely. But inside I feel more immature and little girly than I do womanly. I recently - and I know this sounds so superficial - but I cut my hair and it's actually made me feel so sophisticated. I feel that I've finally embraced my age [she's 30]. My looks and my haircut have just given me an inner glow. I feel really happy with that and having this experience, even though it was brought on by something as superficial as a haircut. Also, I've gained a little bit of weight, and all of the old guys on the show are saying things like, 'You've never looked better; I like it when you've got a little ass.' I know how they mean it. So I guess I do have my moments."

And as far as Carpenter sees it, those moments have become a little less in Angel's second year as Julie Benz's Darla has become a significant player.

"I'm not on quite as much," she laments, "but it's such a compliment, honestly, to be considered a sex symbol, because I'm not overtly sexual. I never do sexual scenes. I had one scene in [season one's] 'Expecting' with a man I'm kissing, but I've never played overtly sexy. So to be considered sexy when you're not playing it is really cool."

Turning 30, shedding those locks and constantly being voted one of the sexiest women on telly seems to have done wonders for the former ballet student's self-confidence. Even her mole, for so long neurotically covered up by Carpenter, has been allowed to shine its magic to the world.

"Actually, it's not a mole," she clarifies. "It's a sun spot, because I am a sun buff to this day. But when I was 13, I went skiing and got a severe sunburn on my face and it scabbed over. Ten years later, I got this sun spot. I spent a long time trying to hide it, but when I came over to Angel, I said, 'You know what? Embrace it.' First of all, it's too much work to hide it. Number two, it's what I look like. But what sucks is when you don't look like people expect you to look. Around town I never wear make-up, so nine times out of ten people don't recognise me. Number two, I know as a fan when I see other people, my reaction is usually, 'Wow, they're shorter than I thought.' People often say that to me: 'God, you're shorter than I expected.' Like the first time I ever saw Frankie Valli - he's an itty bitty guy. I was like, 'Oh my God, he's so short.' So somewhere in my subconscious is the fear that people will look at me and say, 'Eww, she's not cute.' But I finally decided that I didn't want to hide my defect anymore."

Carpenter, whose first name was inspired by an Avon perfume, was born on 23 July, 1970 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Of course, she was born wanting to perform, with local lounge shows and beauty pageants among her early credits. By the time she had finished high school, though, she was seriously leaning toward a career in teaching English. College would lead her to a position as an aerobics instructor and then a single year stint as a cheerleader for the San Diego Chargers.

In 1992 she went to LA to visit her boyfriend and never moved back. At first she took a position as a waitress, and then, after numerous customers suggested it, she decided to give acting a try. Thesp school followed, which in turn led to over 20 television commercials, including two years as the Secret Anti-Perspirant spokeswoman. Hey, no sweat.

Stage roles in No, No Nanette and Welcome Home, Soldier were followed by a guest starring turn on Baywatch, which caught the attention of telly mogul Aaron Spelling. Ultimately, Carpenter was cast as the bitchy Ashley Green on Spelling's short-lived Malibu Shores. "When I was auditioning for Spelling," she explains, "I had to be a bad girl and a bitch. The casting director I met before I met with Aaron said, 'You need to find the bitch within. Heather Locklear is the nicest lady, but she plays a hell of a bitch. Now everyone knows that she's nice, but she's got to have a little bitch living in there somewhere."

Although she'd initially auditioned for the title role on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Carpenter was ultimately able to hone that bitchy portrayal when she next found herself cast as the Heathers-fashioned prima donna Cordelia Chase.

"I didn't know this when I got the part," Carpenter says, "but I was a series regular that wasn't going to be in all shows produced. Which is a fact my agent kind of left out of the equation, and it wasn't good news. I think they were really happy with me and decided to keep me, which is why they tried to make me a part of the Scooby Gang, if you will. They probably never initially had any plans to do that, which is why I never fully fitted in because the role was never meant to be like that. I think they finally started to develop the character a little more when she and Xander got together."

Buffy nonetheless represented something that few fledgling actresses had: job security. Which is probably the reason she was a wee bit nervous when executive producers Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt asked her to join David Boreanaz in the Buffy spin-off, Angel.

"Initially I was very concerned," she points out. "I wanted to make sure that the writers were the ones that were involved with Buffy so as to ensure quality. Knowing that Joss and David - who happened to be my biggest fan - would be a big part of this show, I was immediately relieved to say the least. Truthfully, though, spin-offs as they go aren't usually very successful, so of course I asked if there would be an open door if things should not go well. I wanted to make sure that I could come back to Buffy if I had to. Joss said, 'I would never put you out there without a net. Of course I don't know if logistics will back me up on that, but sure.' I think he was kidding. He loves to make jokes that make actors insecure; he thinks it's really funny. He loves to say, 'By the way, you're fired,' and then he gets a chuckle out of it. Then he says, 'Every time I say that to an actor, they never laugh.' 'That's because it's really not funny, Joss.'

"No security whatsoever," she adds with a laugh. "What's wrong with a boss that gets a chuckle out of making you think that any minute you could get fired? He's sick, but that's why he's so good and why he's a genius, I guess. David Greenwalt is off his rocker, too, and I wouldn't have it any other way. It keeps things exciting."

Cordelia wasn't exactly the most developed character in the Scooby Gang, and the general feeling was that transplanting her from Sunnydale to Los Angeles wouldn't do much to add flesh and blood to the self-centered bitchiness. Naturally, though, as one of Angel's three primary stars, it became inevitable that depth would have to be added. The character nonetheless didn't really start to come into its own until episode ten. In "Parting Gifts" it was revealed that demon-human hybrid Doyle, before he sacrificed his life in "Hero", had transferred his gift to serve as a conduit for the Powers That Be to the out of work actress. From that moment on, it would be Cordelia who would be struck with the head-splitting visions that would set Angel and company off on their "case of the week".

"I didn't know when the evolution began," Carpenter says, "but there is no question that there has been major character development. And they had to, because I'm the only female [in the regular cast] and what's the point of my coming over if they weren't going to? To take a part that wasn't guaranteed to be in every episode is heaven."

Cordelia the character and Charisma the actress truly came into their own in the season one finale, "To Shanshu In LA", in which a demon touches Cordy and fills her mind with the pain of all the suffering in the world, which nearly drives her insane. The actress managed to reach levels in that particular show which she never had before.

"My coach and I did a lot of research," offers Carpenter. " Actually, she went out to the library and checked out a couple of books, because I was working so much, and we were very specific in what we were looking for. Then we got this amazing book of Life magazine's top photographs from around the world, and we were looking at images from the Vietnam War, Hiroshima, fire victims photos that captured in the moment what disaster is on a personal level; what it looks like on a human face. The one thing that really stands out in my mind, even right now as I describe it, is an image from Vietnam. There are people running and there is a naked little child running with arms just drooping. It's not like a speed racer; the child is totally limp and running for his life. It's an image that really helped me visualise and be able to connect with the moment. I took those images and expanded on them with my imagination. I really worked hard on that, so the compliment goes right to my heart.

"Sometimes," she elaborates, "when you're acting you worry that your well will be dry. That was a day that a concern like that would be completely valid and justified, because it was basically eight hours of that one scene. Also, in that episode David was grabbing me and trying to restrain me and I told him I really wanted him to restrain me. I know this is so incidental, but I was wearing this mesh-type shirt and the fabric was very coarse, and I had the worse lesions on my shoulders from where he grabbed me, which just helps the moment, of course. When I was having the seizure and stuff, it was really a great moment for me artistically, being able to experience a moment like that. And it was successful, I felt. Self-satisfaction is very difficult to attain for anyone. You know, 'Are you pursuing what your life's work is meant to be? Are you happy and fulfilled?' That was one of those days where you go into a scene scared shitless and you walk out going, 'Yeah! I did it!' It felt good in my heart, so I could walk away from it happy."

While admitting that it sounds like "total ass-kissing", she expresses gratitude to the show's writers, noting that if she should never work again when Angel finishes its run, she's thrilled that she had the opportunity to work on a show that required so much range from her. Besides dealing with the show's various special effects, the emotional range she's played has varied from devilish to funny and heroic.

"This is a great time for me to be able to make the kind of television we're making, the writers we're involved with and the fact that they give me so much to do on set. I really could die happy. As an artist, I feel so fulfilled," she enthuses. "It's so nice not to be the token bimbo, because they could go there so easily with T&A, and Cordelia is the lighter end of the show. Then they give me something like 'To Shanshu In LA' to play. Yes, I had to go deep. Yes, I had to go to a dark place. Yes, I wouldn't want to live there. But that just shows you the quality involved. They don't always make me pretty; that temptation isn't always there. I've grown a lot. I know my character has, but most importantly I know I have. We're all neurotic as actors. There's always that doubt, but I just feel that I have some really powerful stuff to look back on and to remind myself that I had great writing and it let me perform to the best of my ability. I'm pretty hard on myself, granted, but my mom has really been supportive as well as honest. She wouldn't let me know if I was bad, but if she liked something, she'd let me know that I'd grown or say something like, '1 didn't expect to feel the way I felt when you did that scene.' That's a really nice compliment. It's no secret that I'm very new to this industry. I have not been in this since I was four years old. I've barely started working within the last decade and I'm nowhere near finished. I will always be learning. I was a novice coming it, a total neophyte, and I have grown. It would be stupid not to admit that."

Whedon's talent in penning the perfect put-down often went into Cordelia's mouth. Those soundbite-perfect lines must be an actor's dream. After so many years of playing her, there must be a thinning of the line between actress and character; a blurring of fact and fiction.

"I wish I was as witty as she is," Carpenter laughs, "but I think she has influenced me. One of my favourite lines is, 'That's just propaganda spouted out by the ugly and less deserving.' She says hilarious stuff. I have Joss speaking in my ear 24/7, so, thankfully, some of the wittier ends of things in her way of speaking has sunk in after five years. There's got to be some of that in me, or I wouldn't be able to do it. I think what I was trying to say earlier is that I think I have influenced Cordelia. I've had experiences or conversations with David Greenwalt where I've said, 'Nobody gets my humour,' and then he wrote it in. I didn't even remember that I said that. Then I told him how endearing it was for Angel to say, '1 thought it was funny.' It was a sweet thing between the two characters. What's so great is that Cordy influences Charisma a little bit, but what's started to take over is that David [Greenwalt] has taken a bit of my personality and applied it in certain random places. I also think she's deepening with the visions and understanding the suffering; now she understands what her mission is and acting has taken a back seat to what her true priorities are, which is helping people. It's a huge change for her. But it's still funny to see her being as superficial as always at all the wrong times. That's never going to go away, but she is deeper. It's nice to have that within me and being able to give that to her."

Angel is a show that's evolved a lot since it's beginning. Initially, it was a series much more focused on the proverbial guest-star of the week, but more and more it has been focusing on the ensemble of characters: Angel, Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn, as well as such guest stars as Faith, Darla and Drusilla.

"My mom goes on the internet a lot," Carpenter details, "and there's always this guessing game about what's going on with the love interests. People were debating whether or not Gunn and Cordelia were going to have a relationship, and overriding it all was the idea of Cordelia and Angel getting together. Then there were die-hard fans who say, 'Buffy and Angel forever.' It was interesting, but what captured my mom's attention was one person who said, 'Of course Cordelia and Angel will never be together; they're like brother and sister. That's their relationship.' I really liked that idea. Not that I would mind kissing him, but the point is people get that brother/sister thing. That relationship has been conveyed and I'm really happy about that."

It's an interesting approach, considering that in most cases when you're watching the male and female lead in a series together, you're sitting there wondering about the sexual tension. Yet there's really none between Angel and Cordelia.

"Now I don't know if I like that," says Carpenter. "Maybe I do want there to be sexual tension."

But they could never have sex, surely.

"But," she counters, "that's what everybody usually capitalises on."

But it also happens to be the cliché.

"We didn't follow the cliché," she says with a smile, "which is a compliment."

But this is a woman who only a short time ago claimed she's never played "overtly sexy". But this is LA and sex is in the air. So for all her protestations and denials of her own sexual nature, it's clear she knows its importance to a television show like Angel. But sex is only part of it, because the pair's squabbling but protective relationship sometimes suggests a sibling-like bond.

"If I were Cordelia right now and I had to speak about Angel, part of me feels like he's a brother, because I can speak to him as a peer or I can tell him he's wrong or stick my tongue out at him and say, 'You can't fire me, I'm vision girl!' I feel confident and secure in the relationship, like sister and brother, like they're not going anywhere. But I also get kind of a parental feeling when the two characters are together. It's really interesting. He's superior because he has all of these powers and his priorities are so deep, which is only an evolved person's priority. So it's kind of like a parental or patriarch kind of role. I feel respectful to Angel as I would an elder, yet I still feel like I also teach him things. I think I nurture him, fix his bruises and pick up his chin." She pauses for a moment, and then exclaims, "I love it! I am so stoked. The more we talk about it, the more excited I get about the show. I think we've found our rhythm and the scripts are getting phenomenal."

What isn't quite so phenomenal, as far as the actress is concerned, is the fact that both Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel have been virtually ignored at the Emmy Awards - this despite the fact that Whedon was finally nominated for the Buffy episode "Hush".

"Don't even get me started," she says. "Don't even take me there, friend. I just feel so strongly about that, and I'm disappointed by it. Obviously I would love to be nominated, but let's not ignore the overall sweeping under the rug, the turning a blind eye and walking around with shutters over the eyes. It's like they're turning a blind eye to something really special. We have a tremendous cult following, but it's not on a major network, so obviously bigger shows in more markets are going to be nominated. I love HBO and what they're doing - The Sopranos, Sex In The City - but I do feel like it's always the same people who are nominated every year, and it's really a big, fat yawn. It would be really nice on a whole for the shows to be recognised for what they've accomplished: the writing, the chemistry, the subject matter, the fact that we do martial arts, the special effects, the fact that we're a dramedy. We have a lot going on. They're both pretty ambitious shows and we do it pretty damn well. Can we get some respect please?" SFX

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