Paula Patton

Paula Patton is the daughter of Joyce (Vanraden) Patton and Charles Patton. Her father is African American and her mother is caucasian. She is of German, English, Dutch and English roots. Her family lived across the street from the 20th Century Fox lot when she was growing old and she was a big fan of movies in her early years. Her mother, also enjoyed good films, was a schoolteacher, as was her father, a lawyer. Paula admitted that she tried to escape when she was an infant by "pretending" to become someone else. Therefore, it's no surprise that she participated in Hamilton Magnet Arts High School plays. Her favorite role was the one of Abigail in "The Crucible". But, she decided to take a course in film at the University of Southern California in an summer program. She got a 3-month job making documentaries for PBS. The result was that she began working as a production assistant in documentary films on TV, as well as for Howie Mandel's talk show. Then she began producing documentary segments for Medical Diaries (2000) airing on Discovery Health Channel. Paula says she enjoys her job, however, she has a longing to be an actor. She quickly became successful and within three years, she had acted in roles in major films, Hitch (2005) and Idlewild (2006) as well as the female leading lady in Deja Vu (2006) opposite Denzel Washington.