Paula Patton

Paula Patton was born in Los Angeles, California, to Joyce (Vanraden) and Charles Patton. Her father is African-American and her mother is caucasian is of German, English, and Dutch roots. Her family lived right across the street from the 20th Century Fox lot as she grew up and she was an avid fan of movies from her earliest days. Her mother was a teacher , and her father worked as an attorney. Paula states that she would hide from her mother by pretending to be someone else while when she was a kid. It is not surprising to learn that she was a part of Hamilton Magnet Arts High School's plays for high school students. Her favorite character was one of Abigail in "The Crucible". After having graduated from the University of Southern California's summer camp, she took film classes and was assigned a three-month assignment to create documentaries on PBS. This led to her working as a production assistant for TV documentariesand for Howie Mandel's talk show. Then she began producing documentary segments for Medical Diaries (2000) airing on Discovery Health Channel. Paula declares she loves the work she does, however her goal was the same. She took acting classes and then switched to becoming a performer. Her career was nearly instant success, playing major roles in Hitch (2005), Idlewild (2006) and Idlewild (2006), and the lead female role in Deja Vu (2006) opposite Denzel.