Paula Patton

Paula Patton was born in Los Angeles, California, to Joyce (Vanraden) and Charles Patton. Her father is African American, while her mother is caucasian and has German, English and Dutch heritage. While growing up, her family lived right next to the 20th Century Fox lot. She was an avid film fan from her childhood. Her mother, too, who enjoyed good films was a teacher, and her father was an attorney. Paula admitted that she tried to escape as an innocent child through "pretending" to become someone else. So it's not a surprise that she was a part of Hamilton Magnet Arts High School productions. Her most loved role was that of "Abigail" in "The Crucible". However, she went on to take a course in film at the University of Southern California in an summer program. She was awarded a three-month project to make documentaries for PBS. This led to her being employed as a production assistant on documentary films on TV, as well as on Howie Mandel's talk show. After a few months, she was able to make documentary segments for Medical Diaries 2000 on Discovery Health Channel. Paula states she loves her work however her goal was the same. She took acting classes and then switched to becoming a performer. She became a huge hit performing major roles in Hitch (2005), Idlewild (2006) and the lead female role in Deja Vu (2006) opposite Denzel.