Early Life
Carpenter was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, the daughter of Chris, a bird sanctuary worker, and Don Carpenter, a salesman. She is of French and German descent on her father's side and Cherokee and Spanish descent on her mother's side. Her parents named her after an Avon perfume. Carpenter attended Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas; she was also a part of a song-and-dance troupe which performed in the Las Vegas area beginning when she was nine. When she was 15, her family moved to Rosarito city, Mexico and then to San Diego where she attended Bonita Vista High School and Chula Vista School of the Creative and Performing Arts. After graduation, Carpenter traveled throughout Europe. Once she returned to San Diego again, she worked as a video store clerk, an aerobics instructor, and in property management. In 1991, she worked as a San Diego Charger cheerleader. In 1992, she moved to Los Angeles.
While swimming in San Diego in 1991, she along with two friends were set upon by Henry Hubbard Jr. Hubbard, a serial rapist, attempted to subdue her two male friends at gunpoint. During the altercation her two friends along with Hubbard were shot forcing him to flee the scene. The incident led to his arrest and he was sentenced to 56 years in prison for a series of rapes and robberies. Carpenter helped secure his conviction by presenting his police issue flashlight as evidence which he had left at the scene.
Read more about this topic: Charisma Carpenter
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