Michonne Bourriague: Portraying Aurra Sing in The Phantom Menace

Bounty hunters are the bread and butter of Star Wars. You can arguably say the Jedi define its storytelling, but in terms of iconography, character silhouettes of Boba Fett, Din Djarin, and many more are what have forever engraved pop culture. The more obscure and mysterious they are, the more they become legends. One such character is Aurra Sing, who after appearing in The Phantom Menace for three mere seconds, instantly became one of the most iconic Star Wars villains to date. Michonne Bourriague, who portrayed the feared bounty hunter, brought us on a fascinating journey to discover the creation of Aurra Sing—beginning with her unexpected audition: “I hadn’t even had my first modeling job yet, so the timing was pretty incredible. When I showed up to the audition, a couple of other girls from different agencies in San Francisco and I were told beforehand what we were going to be wearing a very tight fitting costume. When it was my turn, they handed me a rifle, and as I walked into the room George [Lucas] was at the end of the table … I was so surprised by that. After the audition, I felt grateful regardless of the outcome; I got to be at Industrial Light & Magic and got to meet George Lucas!”

But Bourriague’s Star Wars journey was far from over. She booked the mysterious role, which began with a six-hour makeup session that layer by layer revealed the character of Aurra Sing. She recalled, “Danny Wagner did my prosthetics and a lot of the makeup. The process started off by getting my skull cap on, so at one point I was completely bald. Then as soon as the makeup started to happen, I began to see the uniqueness of Aurra Sing … she was a little scary, the black eyes and lips, and then the prosthetics. I truly got an idea of how much effort is put into a character for such a short amount of time on screen. They were telling me all of these little intricate details that were going into her costume (the beads in my hair were African praying beads), I was just blown away. It was such an incredible experience to see the transformation in front of the mirror.”

Makeup and costume applied, Michonne Bourriague stepped onto the set of The Phantom Menace, where she would be directed by the man himself, George Lucas: “I walked into this massive hangar space at ILM and started to really get excited. There was a real buzz happening around me, then all of a sudden the hangar doors opened and through the blinding light I saw George coming in … I’ll never forget that [almost divine] moment. He introduced himself to me, and then we kind of got into what the scene was going to be about.” Bourriague shared. After filming the iconic scene that would eventually become part of the Mos Espa podrace, Michonne Bourriague walked from the set to the photography studio where she got to spend some one-on-one time with the director. “I was trying to take it all in and not act totally nervous. He actually proceeded to tell me that he personally named and created the character (a lot of times that is given away to other people, to fully develop these characters). And then of course Doug Chiang had done the concept art for her. [George Lucas] said to me that if the character was going to be further developed on screen that they were going to make mechanical hands for her … I almost died at that moment [laughs], I had to keep it together because I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s potential for her to do more!’ I was so happy to have had that time with him and that he shared these details about the character,” Bourriague said.

After her unforgettable experience filming The Phantom Menace, Michonne Bourriague admitted that her connection with the Star Wars fan community has truly sealed her love for Aurra Sing: “I love the character. She’s such a unique and dynamic one … a true female badass! I love how the fans have responded to her, and I get so much joy from seeing her developed in The Clone Wars, comics, novels etc. Portraying her changed the trajectory of my life; I traveled more than I could have ever dreamt of traveling, and I’m still doing it. It has been such a blessing.”

Twelve years later (she stepped away to focus on family), Bourriague is ready to return to the comic convention circle and meet fans all over the world. Make sure to follow her on Instagram to discover more Aurra Sing behind-the-scenes and find out where her touring schedule is to get a chance to meet her in person.

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