Paula Patton

Paula Patton is the daughter of Joyce (Vanraden), Patton, and Charles Patton. Her father is African-American and her mother is caucasian and has German, English and Dutch roots. While growing up in the area, her family lived across from the 20th Century Fox lot. She was an avid movie enthusiast from childhood. Her mother, who was a teacher and her father, a lawyer, were both avid film fans. Paula said that she attempted 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 performances. Her favorite role was the one of Abigail in "The Crucible". But, she decided to learn film at the University of Southern California in the summer program and won a 3-month assignment making documentary films for PBS. This led to her being employed as a production assistant in TV documentaries, and also for 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 says she enjoys her job, however, she is still aspiring to be an actor. She quickly became successful and, within three years of her debut, she had appeared in the lead roles in major movies, Hitch (2005) and Idlewild (2006) and was the female leading lady in Deja Vu (2006) opposite Denzel Washington.