Paula Patton Biography

Paula Maxine Patton was born on December 5, 1975, in Los Angeles, California, the United States, to Joyce (née Vanraden) and Charles Patton. Her mother worked as a school teacher and her father was a lawyer.

She is of mixed heritage. Her mother, who is Caucasian, has English, German, and Dutch ancestry, and her father is African-American.

Her family lived across the street from the 20th Century Fox when she was young. Her mother loved to watch movies and the little girl also developed an appreciation for cinema.

She was a creative young girl and loved to play act. She attended Hamilton Magnet Arts High School, where she became keenly interested in dramatics. She participated in many high school plays, her favorite role being that of "Abigail" in The Crucible.

She enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley. After one year, she transferred to the University of Southern California's Film School. She thrived there and won a three-month assignment making documentaries for PBS soon after completing her studies.

Paula Patton began her career as a production assistant for TV documentaries following the successful completion of her assignment. She also created documentaries for Howie Mandel's talk show.

She enjoyed what she did for a living and eventually progressed to producing documentary segments for the show Medical Diaries (2000), which was aired on Discovery Health Channel.

At that time, she was dating recording artist Robin Thicke and provided the female vocal counterpart on the song Can U Handle It? She also sang additional vocals for Usher on his album Confessions in 2004.

Despite becoming a documentary producer, she never gave up on her dreams of becoming an actress. She made her acting debut with a small role in the romantic comedy film Hitch, alongside Will Smith. Soon after, she played a minor part in the drama film London.

She shared screen space with OutKast members Andre Benjamin and Big Boi in the musical film Idlewild in 2006. The movie was written and directed by Bryan Barber.

She bagged the pivotal lead role of Claire Kuchever in the science fiction thriller Déjà Vu in 2006. Her co-star was Denzel Washington. The film was a major box office hit despite receiving mixed reviews from critics. By now, she was married to Robin Thicke and appeared in his video song Lost Without You.

In 2008, Paula Patton portrayed the role of TV reporter Kate Madison in the comedy-drama Swing Vote. The same year, she appeared as Amy Carson, the wife of Ben in the supernatural horror film Mirrors.

She acted as Ms. Blu Rain, a teacher at an alternative high school in Harlem, in director cum producer Lee Daniels's critically acclaimed drama film Precious in 2009. Her character teaches the titular character, Claireece Precious Jones played by Gabourey Sidibe.

In the romantic comedy Just Wright (2010), she co-starred as Queen Latifah's character's god-sister. Later the same year, she was chosen to succeed veteran actress Sharon Stone as the assistant district attorney in the crime drama TV series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

In 2011, she played the lead female role in the action film Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. The film was a major commercial and critical success. She also played the leading role in the comedy film Jumping the Broom the same year.

She appeared alongside Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington in the action-comedy film 2 Guns in 2013. She followed this up with the leading role in the romantic comedy Baggage Claim the same year.

In 2016, she played a big role in the romantic comedy film The Perfect Match. Terrence Jenkins and Cassie Ventura were her co-stars in the movie. She starred alongside Adam Sandler and David Spade in the direct-to-Netflix comedy film The Do-Over.

She was chosen to play the lead role in the ABC drama series Somewhere Between in early 2017. The show started airing in July of the same year and was cancelled after just one season. She starred in the BET+ first original film Sacrifice in 2019. She hasn’t been much active in the TV or film industry in recent years.

Paula Patton is best known for her role in the drama film Precious, in which she played the role of Ms. Blu Rain, a lesbian teacher. The film received six nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards, and Paula was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture.

She played IMF agent Jane Carter in the action film Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol in 2011. It was a major box office hit and also received favorable reviews from critics. She got a nomination for an Alliance of Women Film Journalists award.

Paula Patton first met future recording artist Robin Thicke at an under-21 hip-hop club called Balistyx in 1991. She was 15 and he was 14 back then. The teenagers began dating a couple of years later and got married on June 11, 2005. They had a son in 2010.

After being together for 21 years and married for almost nine, the couple announced their separation in February 2014. Their divorce was finalized in March 2015. Initially, Paula struggled a lot to come to terms with her divorce but was eventually able to move on.