MWHedley170 alerted us to an article at the Santa Cruz Sentinel featuring Michonne Bourriague and her role as Aurra Sing:

When director George Lucas met Michonne Bourriague of Soquel, he put his hand on her shoulder and told her, "I?m going to make a star out of you in four seconds."

Bourriague was impressed, but wasn?t sure exactly what the man behind the "Star Wars" machine meant.

Now she?s figured it out.

Not only is the 5-foot-9 model besieged by fans who want her autograph, she has entire Web sites devoted to her.

She?s also got comic books, a book, a doll and, next month, a four-inch action figure of her own.

Bourriague may only have had four seconds of screen time and not a single word of dialogue in the 1999 movie, "Star Wars: Episode 1 ? The Phantom Menace," but her appearance in the film made her the stuff of "Star Wars" legend and changed her life.

What happened to the woman who had only been a model for a week before she was discovered by Lucas is part chance and part calculation. But mostly it?s the power of the "Star Wars" legend, where fans sometimes obsess on a character who?s got only slightly more on-screen time than the name of the star?s hairdresser.

Here's some more highlights:

Bourriague, 22, unslings a big, black briefcase from her shoulder, pulls out copies of her comic books and her modeling portfolio, and explains how she became Aurra Sing: bounty hunter, killer of Jedi and renegade.

It was only a week after she had signed with a San Francisco modeling agency that she was summoned to Lucasfilm?s San Rafael headquarters, where the director was working on the much hyped "Star Wars" prequel.

She didn?t know it at the time, but Lucas had been editing the famous pod-racing scene and had suddenly decided that he needed another character in it.

So he and production designer Doug Chiang came up with a sketch of an enigmatic bounty hunter with a shock of red-brown hair sprouting out of the back of her bare skull and weapons draped gun-slinger style across her hips.

All they needed was someone to play the part.

It was late, so they picked out four models from their photo cards and brought them to the Lucas studios.

Bourriague remembers pulling on a tight white bodysuit that left almost nothing to the imagination and meeting Lucas.

Bourriague didn?t know it at the time, but with her high cheekbones and defined lips, she bore a striking resemblance to the sketch Chiang had drawn.

Aurra Sing had just come to life.

The following is mentioned about Episode II:

Like lots of fans, Bourriague is wondering what role Aurra Sing will have in Episode II ? she?s hoping it?s a speaking role and that she won?t go the way of Boba Fett, killed by some strange monster.

But she hasn?t got a call yet.

Still Bourriague is ready for whatever comes next.

I (Scott) actually met Michonne this afternoon at the Sci Fi Expo in Austin. (She's still there and you can meet her Sunday if you hurry!) She was much more cryptic abut Aurra Sing and her role in Episode II. I videotaped the conversation and will be posting it online shortly so you can see what I mean. Later!