Charlotte Drake (also known as Charlotte DiLaurentis) is a fictional character created by I. Marlene King for the American television series Pretty Little Liars and its spin-off web series Pretty Dirty Secrets. Introduced in the third season under the pseudonym CeCe Drake, Charlotte was a friend and mentor to main character Alison DiLaurentis before DiLaurentis' disappearance. After moving back to Rosewood two years later, Drake took over Mona Vanderwaal's reign as "A," an anonymous figure that blackmails, stalks and tortures the main characters of the franchise. Under another anonymous identity known as Red Coat, Drake created and led "the A-Team," a group of people who helped "A" in their schemes. During the sixth season, Charlotte is revealed to be Alison's cousin and adoptive sister. After being unmasked as "A," Drake revealed she was assigned male at birth as “Charles DiLaurentis” and underwent gender reassignment surgery in her youth. Drake was eventually murdered by Mona Vanderwaal. Charlotte is portrayed by Vanessa Ray.