Paris is the daughter of real estate mogul Richard Hilton and former actress Kathy Richards, and the eldest of their four children. She attended her freshman year of high school at the Marywood-Palm Valley School in Rancho Mirage, California and then the Dwight School in New York for her sophomore and junior years. Then she was transferred to the Canterbury School, in New Milford, Connecticut where she was a member of the hockey team. However, in early 1999, she was expelled for violating the school rules. Hilton began modeling as a child, initially at charity events.
When she was 19, she signed with Donald Trump`s modeling agency, T Management.Paris began to make a name as a model, soon appearing in shows for designers such as Marc Bouwer and Catherine Malandrino. Hilton has also worked with Ford Models in New York, Models 1 Agency in London, Nous Model Management in Los Angeles, and Premier Model Management in London. In addition, Paris has posed for spreads in national magazines such as GQ, Vanity Fair and FHM, and has been profiled, along with her sister, in People magazine.
Her most notable roles were playing herself on the reality show The Simple Life with Nicole Ritchie, as well as starring in cameos in many movies as well as minor and supporting roles in films such as ‘Zoolander’ (2001), ‘Nine Lives’ (2002), Wonderland (2003), The Cat In The Hat (2003), ‘Raising Helen’ (2004), ‘The Hillz’ (2004), and the horror flick ‘House of Wax’.
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.
In 2004, she released her self-titled debut album “Paris” on her “Heiress” record label.
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.
Hilton has also released an autobiographical book, ‘Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose’ and followed it up with a designer diary ‘Your Heiress Diary: Confess It All to Me’, both co-written by Merle Ginsberg.
She has appeared in numerous advertising campaigns, including Iceberg Vodka, GUESS, Tommy Hilfiger, Christian Dior, and Marciano.
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.