Paula Patton Biography

PAULA PATTON

Date of Birth: December 5, 1975

Paula Patton grew up in Los Angeles, across the street from the 20th Century Fox studio lot. She knew from a young age that she wanted to be in the film industry. Her first performances were in plays at Hamilton Arts High School. Soon after, she joined the summer film program at the University of Southern California, where she had the opportunity to work on documentaries for PBS. She furthered her studies in filmmaking at the same university through the film program, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1997.

With the experience she received through her work at PBS, she managed to gain work as a production assistant for several TV documentaries. She eventually started to produce documentary segments for Medical Diaries on the Discovery Health Channel. Although Paula liked working behind the scenes, she wanted to get back to performing and began to take acting lessons.

Paula made her film debut with a minor role in the hit romantic comedy Hitch, followed by another role in the independent drama, London. The same year, Paula landed a regular role on the Fox crime drama series Murder Brook, although it unfortunately was short-lived. She wasn’t out of work long—she landed a leading role as a mysterious nightclub singer in the musical Idlewild. In Déjà vu she acted alongside Denzel Washington and received a nomination for Best Breakthrough Performance at the Black Reel Awards. She also received several nominations for her performance in the film Precious.

In 2011, she co-starred with Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and has been cast in the sequel Mission: Impossible 5. In the meantime, she played a role alongside Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington in 2 Guns (2013) and appeared in the comedy Baggage Claim (2013). She can now be seen as orc half breed Garona in the 2016 fantasy reboot Warcraft.

Paula began dating singer Robin Thicke as a teenager and married him in 2005. She gave birth to their first child, Julian Fuego Thicke, in 2010. They divorced in 2015.

FILMOGRAPHY

Warcraft (2016)
About Last Night (2014)
Baggage Claim (2013)
2 Guns (2013)
Disconnect (2012)
Jumping the Broom (2011)
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Just Wright (2010)
Precious (2009)
Swing Vote (2008)
Mirrors (2008)
Déjà Vu (2006)
Idlewild (2006)
London (2005)
Hitch (2005)