Charisma Carpenter was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, the youngest child of Christine, a property manager, and Don Carpenter, a salesman. She is of Cherokee, Spanish, and Irish ancestry. Carpenter attended Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas. When Charisma Carpenter 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.