Paula Patton

Paula Patton was the daughter of Joyce (Vanraden) and Charles Patton. Her father is African-American, while her mother is caucasian and is of German, English and Dutch ancestry. While growing up, her family lived right close to the 20th Century Fox lot. She was a huge movie buff from the time she was a child. Her mother was a teacher while her father worked as an attorney. Paula says that she would hide from her mother by pretending to be someone else while a child. It's not too surprising to learn that she was a part of Hamilton Magnet Arts High School's high school dramas. Her most loved role was "Abigail" from "The Crucible". She pursued her studies at the University of Southern California, where she completed a course in film. At the time, she was awarded a 3-month assignment to make documentaries for PBS. This led to her working as a production assistant in TV documentaries, and also for Howie Mandel's talk show. After a few months she was hired to make documentary segments for Medical Diaries 2000 on Discovery Health Channel. Paula says she enjoys what she does, but she is still aspiring to be an actor. She was almost immediately successful and within three years of her debut, she had appeared in part in two major feature films: Hitch (2005) and Idlewild (2006) as well as the female leading lady in Deja Vu (2006) opposite Denzel Washington.