Paula Patton

Paula Patton is the daughter of Joyce (Vanraden), Patton, and Charles Patton. Her father is African-American while her mother is caucasian and is of German, English and Dutch origins. Her family lived next to the 20th Century Fox lot as she grew older, and she was a big enthusiast of films from her early days. Her mother was a school teacher and her father worked as an attorney. Paula admits she was able to get away from her mother by pretending to be a different person as when she was a kid. It's not surprising that she was involved in Hamilton Magnet Arts High School's high school dramas. Her most beloved role was one of Abigail in "The Crucible". She went on to study film at the University of Southern California in a summer program, and received a three-month contract to create documentaries for PBS. She was later hired as a production assistant for television documentaries as well as Howie Mandel's talk show. After a while she was able make documentary segments for Medical Diaries 2000 on Discovery Health Channel. Paula now professes that she liked what she was doing but her dream was still the same as when she was younger, and she began acting classes and switched gears to become an actor. She was almost immediately successful and, within three years, had played the lead roles in major movies, Hitch (2005) and Idlewild (2006) and the female role in Deja Vu (2006) opposite Denzel Washington.