American actress, dancer, and educator

Annette Charles (née Cardona; March 5, 1948 – August 3, 2011) was an American actress, dancer, and educator best known for her role as Charlene "Cha-Cha" DiGregorio in the 1978 feature film Grease. She made several appearances on television as well.

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Career
• 3 Personal life and death
• 4 Credits
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Early life

Charles was born Annette Cardona in Los Angeles, California, of Mexican and Italian ancestry.

Career

Charles became an actress, and was best known for her role as Charlene "Cha Cha" DiGregorio in the 1978 feature film Grease. She made several appearances on television as well.

Charles later earned a bachelor's degree from Antioch University Los Angeles in psychology and theater, and a master's degree in social work from New York University before becoming a speech communication professor in the Chicano Studies department at California State University, Northridge.

Personal life and death

Charles died on August 3, 2011 in Los Angeles from lung cancer, aged 63. She had initially been hospitalized for pneumonia.

Credits

References

External links

• Annette Charles at IMDb
• "Grease's Cha-Cha, Actress Annette Charles, Dies at 63". Us Weekly. August 4, 2011.
• "I Love Cha Cha DiGregorio", Ebola Entertainment via KHitsChicago.Radio.co, August. 5, 2011 (compilation video of Grease scenes)