Paula Patton

Paula Patton is the daughter of Joyce (Vanraden), Patton, and Charles Patton. Her father is African American, and her mother is caucasian and has German, English and Dutch ancestry. Her family lived on the same street as the 20th Century Fox lot when she was young and she was a lover of films from her earliest age. Her mother was a teacher while her father was an attorney. Paula admits that she would hide from her mother by pretending to be a different person as an infant. It's not surprising that she took part in Hamilton Magnet Arts High School's plays for high school students. Her most loved role was "Abigail" from "The Crucible". After graduation from the University Southern California's summer program she studied film and was then given a 3 month project to make documentaries for PBS. This led to her being employed as a production assistant in television documentaries, as well as on Howie Mandel's talk show. Then she began producing documentaries for Medical Diaries (2000) airing on Discovery Health Channel. Paula states she loves her work but her dream was still the same. She studied acting and changed gears to become an actor. She quickly became successful and, in just three years, she had acted in parts in major features, Hitch (2005) and Idlewild (2006) and also the female role in Deja Vu (2006) opposite Denzel Washington.