The character is portrayed by Leah Remini and lives in Rego Park, Queens, with her husband Doug Heffernan (Kevin James), and her father Arthur Spooner (Jerry Stiller).
Carrie originally had a sister (or probably, and more specifically, a paternal half-sister) named Sara (Lisa Rieffel) who moved in along with Arthur, but after the first season, the character was dropped.
The coupling of Carrie and Doug in the King of Queens is an attempt to create a subtle "beauty and the beast" scenario in modern times.
Carrie is a beautiful woman with an attractive figure, whereas Doug is a sloppy dresser and over-eater who doesn't take his fitness, health or weight gain seriously.
It is a deliberate mismatch of looks, allowing the storyline to compensate by evolving the good chemistry between them, displaying overt affection to one another, and building their love story, independent of how different they are.
However, in one episode later in the season, it is portrayed that Carrie had met Doug in high school, which is incongruent with the storyline, and obviously was not something intentional, done by the show's writers.
She loves expensive designer clothes and dressing well in the face of their limited incomes, but is otherwise more practical in how they spend their middle-class paycheck, such as buying a new fridge they need, or to pay a bill which is due, unlike Doug who would like to buy frivolous things such as a pet monkey, a wood-fired pizza oven or an enormous big screen TV.
They make several attempts to try and have a baby, although it is apparent that Carrie's heart isn't truly in it, she is doing it more for Doug, but also she feels she is aging and that it is the right thing to do, as well, timing wise.
In the series finale "China Syndrome", Doug and Carrie decide to split up but eventually reunite after adopting a Chinese baby girl.
[1] Carrie has a caustic personality, and can sometimes be physically abusive (usually toward Doug), and is frequently categorized as "scary" by other characters, particularly by her husband and the family dog walker Holly (Nicole Sullivan).
In the episode "Ice Cubed", Carrie tries to make things right with an employee at a store after she accidentally gives her a free iPod and gets subsequently fired.
She brazenly then uses this ex-girlfriend (Janeane Garofalo) of Doug to get a 40% discount on one of her favorite stores, Saks, so she can purchase the designer clothes, shoes and purses she desperately wants.
The show was originally created around the character of Doug Heffernan after Kevin James' successful guest appearances on popular sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.
In a recent interview, Weithorn admits that he created the character from a "real person" who worked in his father's law firm in Manhattan.
[2] When Remini's short lived TV series Fired Up was cancelled in February 1998 she was subsequently offered the role of Carrie due to her promising comedic performance.