Paula Patton

Paula Patton was the daughter of Joyce (Vanraden) and Charles Patton. Her father is African-American . her mother who is caucasian is of German, English, and Dutch roots. Her family lived directly across the street from the 20th Century Fox lot as she grew older, and she was a major fan of movies from her earliest days. Her mom was a school teacher and her father was an attorney. Paula says she was able to get away from her mother by pretending to be someone else while an infant. It's not surprising to learn that she was a part of Hamilton Magnet Arts High School's high school productions. Her most beloved role was one played by Abigail in "The Crucible". After having graduated from the University of Southern California's summer program she took film classes and was assigned a three-month assignment to create documentaries on PBS. The result was that she began working as a production assistant for television documentaries, as well as for Howie Mandel's talk show. She progressed to actually producing documentary segments for Medical Diaries (2000) airing on Discovery Health Channel. Paula says that she loved her work, but her ambitions remains the same as it was when she was a child, so she took acting lessons and changed gears to become an actor. She became a huge hit with her roles, including major ones in Hitch (2005), Idlewild (2006) and Idlewild (2006), as well as the lead female role in Deja Vu (2006) opposite Denzel.