Sookie St. James is a fictional character on the television series Gilmore Girls, played by Melissa McCarthy.

Sookie is a kind-hearted, top chef and co-owner of the Dragonfly Inn with Lorelai Gilmore. She is married to Jackson Bellville with whom she has two children named Davey and Martha. At the end of the series, she was pregnant with her third child. She originally met Lorelai Gilmore while working at the Independence Inn where Lorelai was the executive manager and the two were best friends throughout the series. Sookie is a culinary genius with perfectionist tendencies that is very ambitious in both her cooking and baking. Sookie is unable to delegate in her kitchen and there are several storylines throughout the series that comically highlight her inherent control issues. She is also known for being somewhat of a scatter brain and a klutz as she is often re-writing her menus (often up to the very last minute) and getting injured in the kitchen (the first scene in her kitchen is quite chaotic with one of her sous chefs being whacked in the head with her pan).

Alex Borstein, the real-life wife of actor Jackson Douglas, who plays Jackson Belleville, was originally cast in the role of Sookie St. James, but had to back out due to scheduling conflicts. Instead, she has taken miscellaneous supporting roles throughout the show, including Drella, the harpist from Season 1, and Miss Celine in Seasons 3 and 5.

Although information about Sookie's training and childhood is incomplete, Sookie started her career as a prep chef at the Deerhill lodge in The Berkshires, an area renowned for food with Chefs coming from all over the world to hone their skills and add more artistic flair to their craft. When she ran into a former colleague from that time, Joe, she described her experience and 14 hours of chopping, drinking the leftover wine and partying all night with other members of the line crew. Most notably Feldman (the grillman), Melon and Bung who got into a fight with bride with an ice sculpture. At the beginning of the series, Sookie was the head chef at the Independence Inn with an impeccable national reputation. In Season 1, episode 4 "Deer Hunters", Sookie receives a rave review in "Four Stars" magazine. However, when that same review said that her "magic risotto" (the one that she believes gave her mother the strength to live another three years), was "fine", she got into a funk. She tried multiple renditions of the risotto recipe, tracked down the critic's bill and after discovering that he paired the risotto with a riesling which would have affected the taste of the dish, she brought the risotto to his house with the right pairing to taste the dish again. These qualities make her one of the few people in Lorelai and Rory's lives that Emily Gilmore respects.

In the first episodes of the season, it is clear that Sookie knows the most about Lorelai's life before Stars Hollow, the one she talks to about her emotional life. Most importantly, she appears to be one of the few people Lorelai consistently listens to. Lorelai also has the most impact on Sookie's life as well. During a conversation about Max Medina, Sookie questioned Lorelai's negative comments about her relationship by bringing up her inherent commitment issues. Lorelai immediately took a defensive tone and said "What do you know, you haven't been on a date in years!". She immediately apologized for being a jerk, but Sookie still took those words to heart and asked Jackson Belleville, her produce supplier, out on a date. There had always been a spark in Sookie and Jackson's relationship. Her first scene with Jackson involves an argument over peaches where Sookie was insistent that they were too small and therefore "too watery" with no good peach taste. Sookie and Jackson's first date was marred by Jackson's disgruntled cousin, Rune, who spent the night sulking because he was paired with Lorelai whom he thought was too tall.

Sookie married Jackson Belleville (Season 2, Ep. 22, "I Can't Get Started") and they have two children: Davey (born Season 4, Ep 7. "The Festival of Living Art") and Martha, middle name Janice-Lori-Ethan-Rupert-Glenda-Carson-Daisy-Danny (born Season 5, Ep. 21, "Blame Booze And Melville"). She and Jackson chose to have a home birth for Davey, but went to the hospital for the next birth. She and her family live in the house she owned before she started dating Jackson. After Sookie gave birth to Martha, she told Jackson that he has to get a vasectomy, however Jackson decided not to go that route, and neglected to tell her. In episode 7.12, after a ski trip, Sookie found out she was pregnant again. She becomes very upset that her husband didn't tell her that he did not have the vasectomy. Lorelai calms Sookie down, and she rests.

Business wise, Sookie and Lorelai always wanted to open their own inn. They co-owned and operated the Independence catering company to earn money to help fund renovations on the Dragonfly Inn after the Independence Inn burned down (Season 3, Ep. 17, "A Tale of Poes and Fire"). At the end of the fourth season, their dreams of opening their own inn, called "The Dragonfly Inn" came true.