The name Melissa McCarthy doesn't ring a bell? No, she's not Jenny McCarthy's sister (she's her cousin). You probably know Melissa under the name Sookie St.James, Lorelai's best friend on Gilmore Girls.

This gifted actress has appeared in over 20 different TV and movie projects in the past 10 years but mostly devoted her time to Gilmore, appearing in more than 150 episodes of the series.

The 37-year-old actress from Plainfield, Illinois, first performed on stage. She started her acting career by doing stand up and improv in New York. She attended The Actors Studio, where she studied drama. This led to a bunch of acting gigs in stage productions. When she moved to Los Angeles, the actress joined The Groundlings as a main cast member of this improv and sketch troupe.

McCarthy made her first TV appearance in 1997 on her cousin's show, The Jenny McCarthy Show. This gig led to movies such as Go and Drowning Mona. Later in her career, McCarthy appeared in other movies like Charlie's Angels, White Oleander, and The Life of David Gale.

So far in her career, the actress appeared on a total of six TV shows. This may not seem like a lot but remember that McCarthy appeared on 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls. She portrayed a character named Molly on the very short lived WB's D.C., appeared as a saleswoman on Curb Your Enthusiasm, and voiced DNAmy on Kim Possible. She currently plays lovable Dena on ABC's Samantha Who?.

McCarthy is married to Ben Falcone, also an actor. His name may not ring a bell but he played Howard on the Friends spin-off Joey. They have a daughter together.

You can watch this lovely actress, who is an inspiration for a lot of plus size women, every Monday on ABC's Samantha Who?.