---
name: "Paula Patton"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/paula-patton"
fi1m_id: "paula-patton"
imdb_id: "nm1745736"
tmdb_id: 52851
wikidata_id: "Q233213"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "5 December 1975"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 66
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-10-05T13:58:59.290673+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Paula Patton

## Identity

Paula Patton

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/paula-patton
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** paula-patton
- **IMDb ID:** nm1745736
- **TMDB ID:** 52851
- **Wikidata ID:** Q233213
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Patton, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q233213, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1745736/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/52851

Actor. Born 5 December 1975 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 5 December 1975, Los Angeles, California, USA
- **Active:** 2005–2016
- **Also known as:** 폴라 패튼, Пола Максин Паттон, Paula Maxine Patton, Пола Пэттон, ポーラ・パットン, Паула Паттон, 保娜·柏頓, پائولا پتن
- **Frequently works with:** [Michael Nyqvist](https://film.one/person/michael-nyqvist.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 66, as actor, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 72 (1), 2010s 62 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 66 to 62 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 2 of 3 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Action 2, Adventure 2, Drama 1, Fantasy 1, Thriller 1
- **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $1,176m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Patton, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q233213, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1745736/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/52851

## Streaming the US now

- **Paramount+:** [*Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol*](https://film.one/film/mission-impossible-ghost-protocol.md) (82)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire*](https://film.one/film/precious-based-on-the-novel-push-by-sapphire.md) (72)
- **Apple TV:** [*Warcraft*](https://film.one/film/warcraft.md) (43)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Paula Patton

> Paula Patton's job on screen has mostly been to stand beside a bigger name and not disappear, and she does it with a steadiness the scripts rarely repay. She is usually better than the part, and the parts have not improved.

Watch Jane Carter in *Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol* (2011) at any point where the job is going wrong, which is most of the film. Cruise runs, Simon Pegg's Benji panics, Jeremy Renner's Brandt keeps something back, and Patton stands in the middle of it looking like someone who means to finish the task whether or not the equipment cooperates. She does not ask for room; she takes it. Brad Bird's film is about a team, and it works partly because she makes the group look like people who have done this before rather than three men and a woman.

She came in through production work and small parts after film studies at USC, made a feature debut in *Hitch* (2005), and then went almost straight to the lead opposite Denzel Washington in *Déjà Vu* (2006). Two things followed. She became the woman cast beside the star, and she became the capable professional: teachers, agents, the person in the plot whose job is to be relied upon. *Precious* (2009) got her noticed as Ms. Rain. *Ghost Protocol* put her in a franchise. *2 Guns* (2013) paired her with Washington again. *Warcraft* (2016) put her under prosthetics as Garona Halforcen, and the make-up was widely felt to get between the audience and the performance. Since then the films have been quieter and the parts fewer: *Traffik* (2018), *Finding Faith* (2025).

What she does well is conviction in the body. In *Ghost Protocol* the action is unusually easy to follow, and one reason is that she always looks as if she knows where the wire is and how long she has before it goes. She said of the film that "It challenged me as an actor because it's so technical", and the technicality shows in the right way: as competence, not effort. She and Cruise share a plainness of purpose that makes the jokes around them land harder.

What she is rarely given is a flaw. Ms. Rain in Lee Daniels's *Precious* is written as a saint, and Patton plays her as one, which is the only choice the script leaves open. We came out of that film wishing someone had written the teacher one bad afternoon, because Patton's stillness in the classroom, listening while Gabourey Sidibe's Precious fights her way through a sentence, suggested an actor who could have done something with a doubt. Instead she is there to be good, and she is, and the film cuts away to its daydreams every twenty minutes as if it did not trust the classroom to hold us.

The next part worth her time is one where the writer has forgotten to make her the reliable one.

## Biography

Paula Patton is an American actress and producer. Born in Los Angeles on 5 December 1975, she began her career in television production before taking acting lessons and making her feature film debut in the 2005 comedy *Hitch*.

She is known for roles including Mandy in *Hitch*, Claire Kuchever in *Déjà Vu* (2006), Ms. Rain in *Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire* (2009), Jane Carter in *Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol* (2011), Deb Rees in *2 Guns* (2013), Cindy Hull in *Disconnect* (2013) and Garona Halforcen in *Warcraft* (2016).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *Warcraft* (2016), Fi1m 43, as Garona Halforcen — [page](https://film.one/film/warcraft.md)
- *Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol* (2011), Fi1m 82, as Jane — [page](https://film.one/film/mission-impossible-ghost-protocol.md)
- *Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire* (2009), Fi1m 72, as Ms. Rain — [page](https://film.one/film/precious-based-on-the-novel-push-by-sapphire.md)

## Complete filmography (30)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Finding Faith* (2025), as Faith Mitchell · Producer
- *Murder in a Small Town* (2024), series, as Dr. Elizabeth Lewis
- *The Devil's Promise* (2022), series, as Jennifer Campbell
- *Sacrifice* (2021), series, as Daniella Hernandez
- *Four Kids and It* (2020), as Alice
- *Sacrifice* (2020), as Daniella Hernandez
- *Traffik* (2018), as Brea
- *Somewhere Between* (2017), series, as Laura Price
- *Past Forward* (2016), as Pursuing Photographer #2
- *The Do-Over* (2016), as Heather
- *Warcraft* (2016), as Garona Halforcen — Fi1m 43, [page](https://film.one/film/warcraft.md)
- *The Perfect Match* (2016), as Sherry · Producer
- *Runner* (2015), as Lauren Marks
- *About Last Night* (2014), as Alison
- *Baggage Claim* (2013), as Montana Moore
- *2 Guns* (2013), as Deb Rees
- *Disconnect* (2013), as Cindy Hull
- *Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol* (2011), as Jane — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/mission-impossible-ghost-protocol.md)
- *Jumping the Broom* (2011), as Sabrina Watson
- *Just Wright* (2010), as Morgan Alexander
- *Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire* (2009), as Ms. Rain — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/precious-based-on-the-novel-push-by-sapphire.md)
- *Mirrors* (2008), as Amy Carson
- *Swing Vote* (2008), as Kate Madison
- *Déjà Vu* (2006), as Claire Kuchever
- *Idlewild* (2006), as Angel
- *London* (2005), as Alex
- *Hitch* (2005), as Mandy
- *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit* (1999), series, as Mikka Von
- *Reimagined*, as Mary McCoy
- *Runaway*, Actor

## Gallery

- ![Paula Patton](https://film.one/media/person/94004/gallery-9958390bacdc.jpg) Paula Patton — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/Paula_Patton_by_Gage_Skidmore_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Paula_Patton_by_Gage_Skidmore_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Paula Patton at the InStyle Party, Toronto Film Festival 2012](https://film.one/media/person/94004/gallery-2bc618cb9851.jpg) Paula Patton at the InStyle Party, Toronto Film Festival 2012 — GabboT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Paula_Patton_02_%288123801921%29.jpg/1280px-Paula_Patton_02_%288123801921%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Paula Patton at the InStyle Party, Toronto Film Festival 2012](https://film.one/media/person/94004/gallery-b97d71d7fcc6.jpg) Paula Patton at the InStyle Party, Toronto Film Festival 2012 — GabboT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Paula_Patton_03_%288123801583%29.jpg/1280px-Paula_Patton_03_%288123801583%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![69th Annual Golden Globes Awards. (2012)](https://film.one/media/person/94004/gallery-5920887d839c.jpg) 69th Annual Golden Globes Awards. (2012) — jdeeringdavis, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Paula_Patton_%40_69th_Annual_Golden_Globes_Awards.jpg/1280px-Paula_Patton_%40_69th_Annual_Golden_Globes_Awards.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Paula Patton](https://film.one/media/person/94004/gallery-b9df605109a1.jpg) Paula Patton — Image via TMDB
- ![Paula Patton](https://film.one/media/person/94004/gallery-6bcf29c054d2.jpg) Paula Patton — Image via TMDB
- ![Paula Patton](https://film.one/media/person/94004/gallery-56cc74ff15a1.jpg) Paula Patton — Image via TMDB
- ![Actress Paula Patton at the InStyle Party at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.](https://film.one/media/person/94004/gallery-a9e0d1183a61.jpg) Actress Paula Patton at the InStyle Party at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. — Tony Shek, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Paula_Patton_TIFF_2012.jpg/1280px-Paula_Patton_TIFF_2012.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Paula Patton at the InStyle Party, Toronto Film Festival 2012](https://film.one/media/person/94004/gallery-f3d42dc06750.jpg) Paula Patton at the InStyle Party, Toronto Film Festival 2012 — GabboT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Paula_Patton_Toronto_Film_Festival_2012.jpg/1280px-Paula_Patton_Toronto_Film_Festival_2012.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Paula Patton](https://film.one/media/person/94004/gallery-453dba6d6396.jpg) Paula Patton — Image via TMDB
- ![Paula Patton](https://film.one/media/person/94004/gallery-315728510652.jpg) Paula Patton — Image via TMDB
- ![Paula Patton](https://film.one/media/person/94004/gallery-9baf8c579758.jpg) Paula Patton — Image via TMDB

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/paula-patton