Shannon LaRhea Marketic (born January 14, 1971), is an American actress and beauty pageant titleholder who was

Miss California USA Miss California USA is the beauty pageant that selects the representative for the state of California in the Miss USA pageant, and the name of the title held by that winner. The pageant is directed by Crown Diva Productions. California's most ...

and

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020, ...

1992.

Biography

Pageants

Marketic was crowned

Miss Arizona Teen USA The Miss Arizona Teen USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Arizona in the Miss Teen USA pageant and the title held by that winner. The first Arizona Teen to place at Miss Teen USA was Jeri-Lynn Be ...

1989 but held the title for only a week and a half after it was discovered an error had been made and she had actually placed first runner-up. A few years later, Marketic won the

1992 title after being crowned Miss Malibu USA 1992, and went on to represent

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in the

Miss USA 1992 Miss USA 1992 was the 41st Miss USA pageant, televised live from the Century II Convention Center in Wichita, Kansas on February 7, 1992. At the conclusion of the final competition, Shannon Marketic of California was crowned by outgoing titleh ...

pageant, which was broadcast live from

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

in February of that year. She placed

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ea ...

in semifinal interview, sixth in

swimsuit A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types may be worn by men, ...

and

evening gown An evening gown, evening dress or gown is a long dress usually worn at formal occasions. The drop ranges from ballerina (mid-calf to just above the ankles), tea (above the ankles), to full-length. Such gowns are typically worn with evening ...

, which allowed her to advance as one of the Top 6 finalists of the competition with the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hi ...

highest semi-finals average score. After answering the judges' questions, she went into the final 3 in

place, eventually winning the Miss Photogenic award and the Miss USA title. Marketic went on to compete in the 1992

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall St ...

pageant held in

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

on May 8 and was one of 10 semifinalists who competed for the title. She eventually placed 8th overall.

Sultan of Brunei incident

In 1997 Marketic sued

Jefri Bolkiah, Prince of Brunei Jefri Bolkiah ibni Omar Ali Saifuddien III (born 6 November 1954), is a member of the Brunei Royal Family. His elder brother is the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah. Prince Jefri was the finance minister of his oil-rich country from 1986 t ...

, claiming that she and other women were hired for promotional work but instead held as a "virtual prisoner", drugged and sexually abused. The Sultan denied the claims. Marketic's lawsuit named Miss USA 1997

Brandi Sherwood Brandi Sherwood is an American model, actress, and Miss USA and Miss Teen USA winner. She was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho. She was originally 1st runner-up at Miss USA 1997, and later was crowned Miss USA when the original winner was crowned Mis ...

as also being a victim, however Sherwood declined to file her own lawsuit. After 18 months of litigation, a judge dismissed the suit on the grounds that the Sultan had sovereign immunity as

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marketic, Shannon 1971 births Crime in Brunei Female models from Arizona Female models from California 1997 in Brunei Living people Miss Photogenic at Miss USA Miss Universe 1992 contestants Miss USA 1992 delegates Miss USA winners People from Greater Los Angeles 21st-century American women