Paris Hilton Socialites Information

Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, singer, actress, fashion designer and DJ.

Hilton is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels. Born in New York City and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, she began her modeling career as a teenager when she signed with New York-based modeling development agency Trump Model Management. Her late-night persona made her a fixture of tabloid journalism, and Hilton was proclaimed "New York's leading It Girl" in 2001. In 2003, a leaked 2001 sex tape with her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, later released as 1 Night in Paris, catapulted her into global fame, and the reality television series The Simple Life, in which she starred with her socialite counterpart Nicole Richie, started its five-year run with 13 million viewers, on FOX.

In 2004, Hilton released her book Confessions of an Heiress, which became a New York Times Best Seller, in 2005, she appeared in the horror film House of Wax, and in 2006, her self-titled album, Paris reached number six on the Billboard 200. Hilton returned to reality television in 2008 with the Paris Hilton's My New BFF franchise, in 2011 with The World According to Paris, and again in 2018 with Hollywood Love Story. She had a number of small roles and cameos in Hollywood movies and appeared in the documentaries Paris, Not France (2008), Teenage Paparazzo (2010) and The American Meme (2018).

In 2012, Hilton made her debut as a DJ at Brazil's Pop Music Festival. Between 2013 and 2017, she held the "Paris Hilton: Foam and Diamonds" residence at the Amnesia nightclub in Ibiza, and was the highest-paid female DJ in 2014.

Credited with influencing the revival of the famous for being famous phenomenon during the early and mid 2000s, Hilton exemplifies the "celebutante": a celebrity not through talent or work, but through inherited wealth and lifestyle. She has parlayed her media fame into perfumes and various lines with her endorsement; her perfume brand alone have brought in over US$3 billion in revenue. In addition to a Paris Hilton Beach Club Resort in Manila, the Philippines, there are currently 50 Paris Hilton stores worldwide and 19 product lines, such as handbags, watches, footwear, hair and skin care. Hilton earns over US$10 million a year from business ventures, and as of 2017, she was paid about US$300,000 for appearances in clubs and events.

Hilton was born in New York City. Her mother, Kathy Hilton (née Kathleen Elizabeth Avanzino), is a socialite and former actress; her father, Richard Howard "Rick" Hilton, is a businessman. Hilton is the oldest of four children; she has one sister, Nicholai Olivia "Nicky" Hilton (born 1983), and two brothers: Barron Nicholas Hilton II (born 1989) and Conrad Hughes Hilton III (born 1994). Her paternal great-grandfather was Conrad Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels. Her maternal aunts are television personalities Kim and Kyle Richards. Hilton has Norwegian, German, Italian, English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. She was raised in the Catholic faith.

She moved frequently in her youth, living in a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, Beverly Hills and the Hamptons. Her sister Nicky once described her as "very much a tomboy" who dreamed about becoming a veterinarian. As a child, she was friends with actress Bijou Phillips and socialites Ivanka Trump, Nicole Richie and Kim Kardashian. Her mother was a close friend of Michael Jackson, with Hilton remarking in an interview: "I grew up around Michael, and anytime he'd have a music video or a concert, he would always invite my family".

Growing up in Los Angeles, Hilton attended the Buckley School and St. Paul the Apostle School, finishing elementary school in 1995. Her freshman year of high school (1995–96) was spent at the Marywood-Palm Valley School in Rancho Mirage, California. In 1996, Hilton and her family left California for the East Coast. At age 15, she attended Professional Children's School, and at 16, spent one year at the Provo Canyon School for emotionally troubled teens. She then attended the Dwight School before dropping out a few months later. "She knew no one at [Dwight]", said her mother in an interview, while a classmate described her as "sort of more sophisticated. She was different from everybody else". She later earned a GED certification.

After originally modeling as a child at charity events, Hilton signed with Donald Trump's modeling agency, T Management, at age 19. She played an ill-fated character in the independent teen thriller Sweetie Pie (2000), and made a cameo appearance as herself in the comedy Zoolander (2001), with Ben Stiller. Hilton posed alongside her sister Nicky for David LaChapelle in September 2001, in a shoot that appeared in Vanity Fair. On her persona, LaChapelle stated: "Paris had a charisma back then that you couldn't take your eyes off. She would giggle and laugh and be effervescent and take up a room". She also graced several magazine covers, including the UK's Tatler, Italy's Giola and the US' FHM.

Amid her growing public profile, businessman George J. Maloof Jr. paid Hilton to wear a dress made from US$1 million in poker chips and attend the Palms Casino Resort opening in Las Vegas in November 2001, which marked the first of numerous offers for Hilton to show up in nightclubs for promotion. In 2002, she appeared in Vincent Gallo's "Honey Bunny" video, played a "strung-out supermodel" in the 5-minute short QIK2JDG, and starred in the straight-to-DVD horror film Nine Lives as a socialite.

Hilton's breakout came in 2003, when she starred with her socialite counterpart Nicole Richie in the Fox reality series The Simple Life, in which they lived for a month with a family in the rural community of Altus, Arkansas. The series premiered on December 2, 2003, shortly after the release of Hilton's sex tape, and was a ratings success; its first episode attracted 13 million viewers, increasing Fox's adult 18–49 rating by 79 percent. The high viewership was attributed to the exposure Hilton received for the homemade tape. She became known for her onscreen dumb blonde persona.

In 2004, Hilton continued to venture into screen acting, taking on roles in the films The Hillz and Raising Helen, and guest-starring in episodes of Las Vegas, George Lopez, The O.C., and Veronica Mars. That year, she introduced a lifestyle brand, helping to design a purse collection for the Japanese label Samantha Thavasa. A jewelry line designed by Hilton was sold on Amazon.com shortly after. In the fall of 2004, she released an autobiography co-written by Merle Ginsberg, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose, with color photos and advice on life as an heiress. The book was seventh on The New York Times Best Seller list. Her quote, "Dress cute wherever you go; life is too short to blend in", was added to The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations in September 2009. Hilton was involved in creating a perfume line by Parlux Fragrances. Originally planned for a small release, high demand led to increased availability by December 2004. Its introduction was followed by a 47-percent increase in Parlux sales, primarily of the Hilton-branded perfume. After this success Parlux released several more perfumes with her name, including fragrances for men.

In February 2005, Hilton hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, with Keane as the musical guest, and in May, the slasher film House of Wax—her first major film role— was released in theaters, to mixed reviews. Writing for View London, Matthew Turner remarked that Hilton "does better than you might expect", while TV Guide called Hilton "talentless". Her role earned her the Teen Choice Award for Best Scream and the 2005 Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress. She also received a nomination for Best Frightened Performance at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards. House of Wax grossed over US$70 million worldwide. Hilton appeared in a television commercial entitled "Paris Car Wash," promoting Carl's Jr.'s Spicy Burger product, which started airing in May 2005. By the fall of 2005, she had published her second book, Your Heiress Diary: Confess It All to Me, and introduced another fragrance, Just Me.

The Simple Life was canceled by Fox after three seasons in 2005 following a dispute between Hilton and Richie. Neither Richie nor Hilton spoke publicly about their split, although it was speculated that they fell out after Richie showed one of Hilton's homemade sex tapes to a group of their friends. They reconciled in October 2006. After The Simple Life was cancelled, other networks (NBC, The WB, VH1 and MTV) were interested in obtaining the rights for new seasons of the show. On November 28, 2005, E! announced that it had picked up The Simple Life, ordering the production of a fourth season and obtaining the rights to repeat the first three seasons. Shooting for the new season began on February 27, 2006. The fourth-season premiere of the show was a ratings success for its new network.

Hilton released her self-titled debut album, Paris, on August 22, 2006. The album reached number six on the Billboard 200, and sold over 600,000 copies worldwide. Its first single, "Stars Are Blind", was played on more than 125 pop stations in the U.S. The song was a worldwide hit, reaching the top ten in 17 countries. Critical reception was generally mixed, but AllMusic called the album "more fun than anything released by Britney Spears or Jessica Simpson".

Her film Bottoms Up was released straight-to-DVD in late 2006. Australia's Urban Cinefile, describing Hilton, wrote that she "spends most of her screen time flicking her hair as she delivers lines like 'books are those things you read.'"National Lampoon's Pledge This!, another film in which Hilton starred, was also released in DVD in 2006; she missed its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, protesting the addition of several nude scenes: "I was so angry I snubbed my own premiere." In August 2008 Worldwide Entertainment Group sued Hilton in Miami District Court, alleging that she did not fulfill her contractual agreement to provide "reasonable promotion and publicity" for the film. She received US$1 million for her role. Also in 2006, Hilton licensed her name to Gameloft for their mobile video game Paris Hilton's Diamond Quest.

On January 10, 2007, Hilton introduced her DreamCatchers line of hair extensions in partnership with Hair Tech International. Due to her incarceration, The Simple Life finished its run at the end of its fifth season in July 2007. In early August, Hilton signed a licensing agreement with Antebi for a signature footwear line (Paris Hilton Footwear, featuring stilettos, platforms, flats, wedges and a sports collection) which reached stores in 2008. In mid-August, she introduced a line of tops, dresses, coats and jeans at the Kitson Boutique in Los Angeles. In December 2007, she posed nude (covered with gold paint) to promote "Rich Prosecco", a canned version of the Italian sparkling wine, traveling to Germany to appear in print ads for the wine. In 2007, Hilton also modeled for 2 B Free and introduced her fourth perfume, Can Can.

In February 2008, The Hottie and the Nottie, a romantic comedy in which Hilton starred, was released theatrically; the film was a critical and commercial failure, with Hilton eventually receiving the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress. Hilton's love for dogs led her to create a canine apparel line, Little Lily by Paris Hilton, with some of the proceeds benefiting animal rescue, in early 2008. In April 2008, she appeared in the My Name Is Earl episode "I Won't Die with a Little Help from My Friends".

On August 6, 2008 Hilton appeared in an online video, Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad, directed by Adam McKay and posted on the Funny or Die website. The video, featuring Hilton in a parody advertisement, was made in response to a television campaign ad ("Celeb") by the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign. In "Celeb" McCain compared Barack Obama to celebrities such as Hilton and Britney Spears, questioning his readiness to lead and criticizing his energy policy. In what The Washington Post said "might just be her best acting role yet", Hilton wore a leopard-print swimsuit in the video. It had seven million views in two days, receiving worldwide press coverage and written and verbal responses from both campaigns.

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