Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American socialite, heiress, media personality, model, singer, author, fashion designer and actress. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton (founder of Hilton Hotels).
Hilton is best known for her appearance on the television series The Simple Life, her several minor film roles (most notably her role in the horror film House of Wax in 2005), her 2004 tongue-in-cheek autobiography, her 2006 music album Paris, and her work in modeling. As a result of several legal incidents, Hilton also served a widely publicized sentence in a Los Angeles County jail in 2007. She is also known for her controversial appearance in a sex tape in 2003.
Hilton was born in New York, NY. Her father is Richard Hilton, a businessman, and her mother is Kathy Hilton (née Avanzino), a socialite and actress. Hilton grew up with three siblings: Nicholai Olivia "Nicky" Hilton, Barron Nicholas Hilton II, and Conrad Hughes Hilton III. She is of Norwegian, German Irish ancestry and Italian ancestry. Hilton is a niece of two child stars of the 1970s, Kim and Kyle Richards.
Hilton moved between several exclusive homes in her youth, including a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and the Hamptons. As a child she was good friends with other socialites as Nicole Richie and Kim Kardashian. She attended her freshman year of high school at the Marywood-Palm Valley School in Rancho Mirage, California followed by a short time at Convent of the Sacred Heart (which she attended with Lady GaGa) and the Dwight School in New York for her sophomore and junior years. She was then transferred to the Canterbury Boarding School, in New Milford, Connecticut where she was a member of the ice hockey team. However, in early 1999, she was expelled for violating the school rules. Hilton later earned her GED.
In December 2007, Hilton's grandfather Barron Hilton pledged 97 percent of his estate to a charitable organization founded by his father, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. An immediate pledge of $1.2 billion was made, with a further $1.1 billion due after his death. He cited his father's actions as the motivation for his pledge. According to reports, the potential inheritance of his grandchildren is sharply diminished.
