Charisma is MAXIM.com Girl of the Day.
Name: Charisma Carpenter
Birthday: July 23, 1970
Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada
>>>
Where You’ve Seen Her: As bitchy high schooler-turned-conflicted adult Cordelia Chase on the Joss Whedon-crafted Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel, and as sultry stepmom Kendall Casablancas on the criminally short-lived Veronica Mars. The lovely Vegas-born, San Diego-raised Charisma was also once a Chargers cheerleader. Next up, she finally gets her share of big screen action as part of The Expendables, where she plays Jason Statham’s long-suffering girlfriend.
On being The Expendables softer side: “You get to see a different side to Jason [Statham], who is obviously a very handsome man, very charming, has an accent, can kick ass, but you get to see him in love. So you know, the big moment was when I had to pretend I didn’t want to be kissed, ‘Wait, don’t kiss me…oh, no I need another take.’ [laughs] Maybe The Expendables 2 will have that. You know, I said to Sly, ‘Every kid asks me if there’s going to be The Expendables 2,’ and then I said, ‘Well if there is and I just so happen to be lucky enough to be a part of it, is there any way I can have a gun and kick some ass?’ He said, ‘Be careful what you wish for.’”
On Having the Eye of the Tiger: “It was really funny ’cause in our auditions, you know, [Stallone] really wants to hear you say ‘Give me this chance,’ he really wants to hear you say that you’re better than everybody else. He really wants you to have the eye of the tiger. He hates false modesty and he’s like ‘just give it to me straight,’ and I really, really related to that. Sly is the guy that you can say ‘Give me this shot. I won’t disappoint you.’ So afterwards Sly calls me into his office and he’s like, ‘So how do you think you did?’ And I just said, ‘I think I nailed it.’ I never talk like that! [laughs] And he was like ‘I think you did, too. Welcome to the cast of The Expendables.’ Now, I’m in an 80 million dollar blockbuster summer action movie. I mean, I couldn’t be more grateful.”
On the Testosterone-heavy Set: “Can I tell you how many men have come out of the woodwork that are now like my best friends and are like, ‘What was it like working with like all these people?’ I work really well with men, it was great. On the set of Angel it was all men—I think the only other woman on set was the screenwriter, and the wardrobe person but she wasn’t even on set all the time. So I’m really comfortable in that environment. It was great. It was really great, just a knockdown, drag out, die happy moment.”
On a Possible Avengers Appearance: “I have not gotten a call from Joss. [Whedon]. Would I like a call from Joss? Abso-frickin-lutely. I don’t know if I should call him. Do you think I should? [laughs] I wonder if he’d take my call! He’s kind of a big deal now. His muse is kind of Eliza [Dusku], though. But Eliza and I are good friends, maybe she’d step aside, ‘You go, Charisma. It’s your turn.’ [laughs] Do you think that would happen? But I’m ready. I’m ready to kick some ass.”