Birth name Paris Whitney Hilton

Date of birth 17 February 1981

Star sign Aquarius

Birthplace New York City, New York, USA

Height 5ft 8in

Eye colour Brown (wears blue contact lenses)

Marriages None

Children None

Biography

Thanks to her great-grandfather Conrad Hilton, founder of the Hilton hotel chain, socialite, party girl, reality star and singer Paris is the heir to a share of a family fortune estimated at $300 million.

Born in New York, Paris grew up in luxury, moving between several exclusive homes in Manhattan's Waldorf Astoria, Beverly Hills and the Hamptons. She began modelling as a child and signed up to Donald Trump's modelling agency, T Management, aged 19, but by 2001, she along with sister Nicky had developed a reputation as a socialite. With her blonde hair and short hemlines, she soon courted media attention in and outside America for her jet-setting, champagne-swigging lifestyle.

Despite making a few cameo appearances in films such as Zoolander (2001), Paris breakout role in 2003 was an unfortunate one, a two-year-old sex tape featuring her and Rick Salomon, which surfaced on the internet. Just a week later, Paris was back on screens, this time with Nicole Richie in hit reality show The Simple Life, which ran for five seasons.

Paris cashed in on her increasing profile with a jewellery line, perfume and an autobiography, Confessions Of An Heiress, but her relationships weren't as successful. She had a public fallout with Nicole Ritchie in 2005, before a brief engagement to shipping heir Paris Latsis and high-profile relationships with Stavros Niarchos III and former pop star Nick Carter.

As well as being panned by the critics for her debut album, Paris, the It Girl has been rapped by the cops, too. She was arrested in 2006 for driving under the influence of alcohol and in May 2007 she was sentenced to 45 days in an LA County jail after driving with a suspended licence but she spent only 23 days in the cells.

Currently dating Good Charlotte star Benji Madden, Paris has kept her star on the rise by posing nude, covered in gold paint, to promote an Italian sparkling wine, as well as lining up a new MTV series and a dance album for late 2008.

Quotes
'One of my heroes is Barbie. She may not do anything, but she always looks great doing it.' (Internet Movie Database)

'I'm not like anybody else. I'm like an American princess.' (Associated Press, 4 May 2005)

'I went to Wal-Mart for the first time. I always thought they sold wallpaper. I didn't realise it has everything. You can get anything you want there for really, really cheap.' (Internet Movie Database)

(On her release from jail)
'Don't serve the time; let the time serve you. I have a new outlook on life.' (CNN, 2007)

'My inspiration is Princess Diana. She was a truly good person.' (S Magazine, March 2008)