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 roots. Her family resided across the street from the 20th Century Fox lot when she was growing old and she was a lover of movies from her early childhood. Her mother, a schoolteacher and her father who was a lawyer were both avid film buffs. Paula claims that she used to hide from her mother by pretending to be someone else while a child. It's not too surprising that she participated in Hamilton Magnet Arts High School's high school plays. Her favorite role was "Abigail" from "The Crucible". After having graduated from the University of Southern California's summer school, she studied film and was given a 3-month assignment to create documentaries on PBS. The result was that she was hired as a production assistant on documentaries on TV and also on Howie Mandel's talk show. After a few months she was able make documentary segments for Medical Diaries 2000 on Discovery Health Channel. Paula claims that she enjoyed her work, however her goals was still the same as when she was younger, and she began acting classes and switched gears to become an actor. It was a quick success and, in just three years, she was playing roles in major films, Hitch (2005) and Idlewild (2006) as well as the female leading lady in Deja Vu (2006) opposite Denzel Washington.