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 has German, English, Dutch and English roots. Her family lived right next to the 20th Century Fox lot as she grew up, and she was an avid enthusiast of films from the beginning of her life. Her mother, a schoolteacher and her father, a lawyer, were both avid fans of films. Paula says that she used to hide from her mother by pretending to be someone else as young. It's not a surprise that she took part in Hamilton Magnet Arts High School's plays for high school students. Her favorite role was that of "Abigail" in "The Crucible". She continued her studies at University of Southern California, where she completed a course in film. In that time, she was awarded a three-month assignment to make documentaries for PBS. She was later hired as a production assistant for television documentaries as well as Howie Mandel's talk show. After a time she was able make documentary segments for Medical Diaries 2000 on Discovery Health Channel. Paula says she loves her work, but she is still aspiring to be a performer. She became a remarkably successful performer and, in just three years, had played part in two major feature films: Hitch (2005) and Idlewild (2006) and was the female role in Deja Vu (2006) opposite Denzel Washington.