Hisham was a member of the Banu Makhzum, a clan of the Arab tribe of Quraysh, being a great-grandson of al-Walid ibn al-Mughira.
Hisham gained prominence when his daughter A'isha married the fifth Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (r. 685–705).
In 691 he became a grandfather to the future caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 724–743), who was reportedly named after him at A'isha's insistence.
When the faqih Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab refused to give the oath, Hisham ordered him to be beaten and imprisoned, and subjected him to a mock execution by having him marched to a mountain pass where individuals would normally be killed and crucified.
Al-Walid also instructed Umar to display Hisham in front of the people of Medina, as a form of humiliation for his conduct during his governorship, but Hisham was spared from further harm after both Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab and the Alid Ali ibn al-Husayn ordered their followers to refrain from acts of retaliation against him.