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 family ancestry. When she was a young girl in the area, her family lived in front of the 20th Century Fox lot. She was a fervent film enthusiast since her early years. Her mother, who liked good movies, was a schoolteacher, and her father was an attorney. Paula claimed that she tried to escape as an innocent child through "pretending" to appear to be someone different from herself. So it's not a surprise that she took part in Hamilton Magnet Arts High School productions. Her favorite role was "Abigail" from "The Crucible". However, she went on to learn film at the University of Southern California in a summer program, and was awarded a three-month project to make documentaries for PBS. She was later hired as a production assistant for documentaries for television and Howie Mandel's talk show. Then, she created documentary segments for Medical Diaries (2000 on Discovery Health Channel). Paula says she enjoys what she does, but she still dreams of being a performer. It was a quick success and, within three years of her debut, she had appeared in parts in major features, Hitch (2005) and Idlewild (2006) as well as the female leading lady in Deja Vu (2006) opposite Denzel Washington.