Shannon McRandle Shannon Lynn McRandle ( born on August 28 , 1969 as Shannon Lynn Jones in Killeen , Texas , US ) is a professional model , picked by Lucasfilm to represent Mara Jade in the photos taken for the " Star Wars " card games . Biography . Early life . Shannon Lynn Jones was born on August 28 , 1969 in Killeen , Texas , US , to Leonard Jones ( stationed at Fort Hood , drafted into the army for the Vietnam War ) and Barbara Kubiszewski Walsh . She has two younger half - sisters , Hillary and Adrienne , from her step - father ( John Meador ) . She began modeling at the age of three for department store fashion shows in the Richmond , Virginia area . By age twelve , modeling between D . C . and the Hampton Roads area took up a good deal of her time . Education and career . After high school , she moved to Las Vegas for four years , where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies ( 1993 ) from the University of Nevada , Las Vegas , with an emphasis on Public Relations and a minor in Sociology . She ' s worked photo , runway , and character modeling since she was twelve throughout the northeast US and in Las Vegas , NV . She enjoyed a busy and successful career as a make - up artist in the Hampton Roads and Virginia Beach areas . While living in Las Vegas , she worked as a promotional model at the Las Vegas Convention Center , Bally ' s Mirage , MGM , and in the Roman Festival at Caesar ' s Palace . Star Wars . She was seven when Star Wars came out and saw it in Norfolk , VA . Her favorite movie is " " . When she heard she had an appointment for the casting , she ran out and got a few of the comics and one of the first three novels . She loved Mara right away , especially in the Zahn books . For the last several years she has been the image of the LucasFilm , Ltd . character , Mara Jade , for Star Wars merchandise . At the time the original photos were taken in 1999 she was known as Shannon Baksa , from her first marriage in 1994 . Before 1998 , Mara Jade appeared only as an illustration , but after that , illustrations attempt to simulate McRandle ' s look . According to the short story " " , Mara Jade was present in Jabba ' s Palace under the guise of Arica while Luke Skywalker was held captive . Before the release of the Star Wars DVDs , there was a rumor that Shannon was to appear in the Special Edition version of " " as a cameo . However , this did not occur . Shannon has said that a small part in the movies for fun for the fans sounds great . She has stated her displeasure with " " , where Mara dies . She has stated that her given displeasure to " Sacrifice " is that if a person was able to kill off Mara Jade , that should have been Timothy Zahn , Mara Jade ' s creator . McRandle did not meet Mark Hamill until a fan convention in 2004 . Personal life . Shannon was married to United States Navy veteran Jamie McRandle on September 18 , 2002 . They have two sons , Riley ( 2003 ) , Logan ( 2005 ) , and Shannon has a daughter named Willow from a previous marriage . She and her family live in Virginia Beach . Two of her favorite books are " The Unbearable Lightness of Being " and " How to be a Bombshell " , and her favorite character is Han Solo .