Hilton was born in New York City, the eldest of four children of Richard Hilton and Kathy Richards. Her younger sister is Nicky Hilton, and her younger brothers are Barron Hilton II and Conrad Hilton II.

On the maternal side of her family, Hilton is a niece of two popular child stars of the 1970s, Kim Richards and Kyle Richards, who appeared in the motion picture Escape to Witch Mountain and TV shows like Nanny and the Professor, Little House on the Prairie, and later, ER. By marriage, she also is related to Zsa Zsa Gabor (the Hungarian-born actress who married Paris Hilton's great-grandfather Conrad Hilton) as well as Elizabeth Taylor (the actress's first husband was Paris Hilton's great-uncle, Conrad Nicholson Hilton Jr.).

Her paternal grandparents are hotel chairman Barron Hilton and his wife, the former Marilyn Hawley, and her paternal great-grandparents were Hilton Hotel founder Conrad Hilton and his first wife, Mary Barron. When Conrad Hilton died in 1979, he left nothing in his will to his children or other descendants. Barron Hilton contested this decision and won in 1988. According to Forbes magazine in 2005, the net worth of Barron Hilton is estimated at just over US $1 billion, of which Paris is expected to inherit a little over US $50 million.

Hilton moved between several exclusive homes in her youth, including a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and the Hamptons. Currently, her parents own a $30.5 million mansion in Bel Air, a $12.3 million estate in the Hamptons, as well as $10 million house in the Hollywood Hills in which she and her sister stay to give them privacy and easy access to clubs in Los Angeles.

After attending high school at the Dwight School in New York, but dropping out and eventually earning a GED, Hilton decided not to attend a university. A naturally brown-eyed curly brunette, Hilton worked as a fashion model for Catherine Malandrino and Marc Bouwer, and on an ad campaign for Italian label Iceberg. She appeared in cameo roles in Zoolander (2001), The Cat in the Hat (2003) and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004).

DVD cover for 1 Night in Paris.

Hilton shot to prominence when a sex video of her with then-boyfriend Rick Salomon was leaked onto the Internet shortly after The Simple Life debuted, causing a sensation. On June 9, 2004 it was released as a DVD titled 1 Night in Paris which was presented by Salomon. Hilton sued Salomon for releasing the tape, but the suit was settled. Hilton received US $400,000 and a percentage of the profits, which were donated to charity.

Hilton is often seen with her teacup Chihuahua, Tinkerbell. She has been voted the worst dog owner ever in an online poll by New York Dog [2] and Hollywood Dog, while Joss Stone was named as the best dog owner. [3]

Hilton was engaged to Tommy Hilfiger model Jason Shaw from mid 2002 to early 2003. On May 29, 2005 she announced her engagement to Paris Latsis a Greek shipping heir. However, on October 1, 2005 Hilton announced that the five month engagement had been called off.

Her role as Paige Edwards in House of Wax won the Teen Choice Award for "Best Scream" and earned her a nomination for "Choice Breakout Performance – Female". She also earned a nomination for "Best Frightened Performance" at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards. She landed her first lead roles in 2006 with the straight-to-DVD releases National Lampoon's Pledge This! and Bottom's Up. She plays the Hottie in a romantic comedy called The Hottie and the Nottie, released in 2008. As of August 2007, Hilton is part of the cast of Repo! the Genetic Opera, which began filming in September 2007.

Hilton co-starred with Nicole Richie in the Fox reality series The Simple Life, which premiered on December 2, 2003. The Simple Life ran for three seasons on Fox. The show was cancelled by Fox after a dispute between Hilton and Richie, but it was subsequently aired by E! Entertainment Television for the fourth and fifth seasons. Despite talks of a sixth season, the series finished its run at the end of the fifth season. In March 2008, it was reported that Hilton would star in a new MTV reality series tentatively titled "Paris Hilton's My New BFF", about her looking for a new best friend. The series is to run for ten episodes from October to December, 2008.

Hilton has also guest-starred in episodes of The O.C., The George Lopez Show, Las Vegas, American Dreams and Veronica Mars. Furthermore, she appeared in several music videos, including "It Girl" by John Oates and "Just Lose It" by Eminem. Planning is underway for an eponymous cartoon series following the animated life of Hilton, her sister Nicky, and her dog Tinkerbell. , which began filming in September 2007 Paris will be guest starring on My Name is Earl when the show returns April 3rd 2008 with the episode titled I Won't Die with a Little Help from My Friends.

Hilton founded Heiress Records, a sub-label of Warner Bros. Records, in 2004 and released her self-titled debut album, Paris, under that label on August 22, 2006. Although the album reached number six on the Billboard 200 for a week, its total sales volume has been low. Allmusic commented that the album was "more fun than anything released by Britney Spears or Jessica Simpson, and a lot fresher, too." On the whole, critical reception was mixed. On July 16, 2007 Hilton confirmed that she was working on a new album with producer Scott Storch. In a recent interview with MTV, Hilton decided that her second album is going to be a dance album. She stated that she "loves Bob Sinclair" and wants to create dance-music vibe. Hilton has installed a professional recording studio in her house to work on the album. At a meet and greet in Montreal, Hilton stated that her album is to be released sometime in 2008.

In the autumn of 2004, Hilton released an autobiographical book, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose, co-written by Merle Ginsberg, which includes full color photographs of her and her advice on life as an heiress. Hilton reportedly received a $100,000 advance payment for this book. Some in the media panned the writing as amateurish, and the book was parodied by Robert Mundell on The Late Show with David Letterman. The book became a New York Times bestseller. Hilton followed it up with a designer diary, also with Ginsberg, called Your Heiress Diary: Confess It All to Me.

Hilton helped design a collection of purses for Japanese label Samantha Thavasa, and also a jewelry line for Amazon.com. In 2004, Hilton was involved in the creation of a perfume line by Parlux Fragrances. Originally set to be a small release, high demand led to a wider release before December 2004. The launch was followed by a 47 percent increase in sales of Parlux products, predominantly due to sales of the Hilton-branded perfume. After the success of Hilton's perfume, Parlux Fragrances released several more perfumes with her name, including fragrances for men. Paris Hilton launched a new fragrance in October 2007, called Can Can. This is her fourth women's fragrance after Paris Hilton, Just Me, and Heiress. In January 2007, Hilton released the DreamCatchers line of hair extensions in partnership with Hair Tech International. In early August 2007, Hilton signed a licensing agreement with Antebi for a signature footwear line, "Paris Hilton Footware", featuring stilettos, platforms, flats, wedges, and a sports collection, expected to reach stores in 2008. In mid August 2007, Hilton launched a line of tops, dresses, coats, and jeans at Kitson boutique in Los Angeles.

In 2005, Hilton lent her name to a chain of nightclubs owned by Fred Khalilian and known as Club Paris. This association ended in January 2007 after she had failed to attend several scheduled promotional appearances.

In December 2007, Hilton joined in promotion of RICH Prosecco, an Italian sparkling wine sold in cans rather than bottles. Hilton went to Germany to promote the drink.

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