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Charisma Carpenter
Since her days as a rich bitch on NBC's Malibu Shores, Charisma Carpenter has noticed that while blondes get to play the sweet, wounded heroines, it's their dark-haired counterparts who have all the fun. As the haughty Cordelia Chase on Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Carpenter could always be counted on to "find the bitch within" (as one wise director encouraged her to do early in her career). Delivering confidence-shattering missives to her poorer, less genetically gifted classmates ("I could dress more like you," Cordelia once offered, "but, oh, my father has a job"), Carpenter's character went from minor villian to major ass kicker in Buffy's undead fighting clique. Now, her character is heading for L.A. and going into the vampire-fighting business with the virtuous Angel, on the Buffy spinoff named for him. Carpenter, 28, plays the same lovable Cordelia, but she claims that her character has been humbled a bit: "Now Mom and Dad are in jail, so she's not coming from the same point of advantage. You see a much more vulnerable Cordelia." But that doesn't mean she's above charging the helpless for her services. "It's really nice to help people," Carpenter says, "but we still need to eat."
- Casey Barrett