He is a two-time Emmy Award winner and is among the busiest single-camera television directors, having directed nearly 200 episodes of television to date, for series such as NYPD Blue, ER, The West Wing, CSI, Lost, The Shield, House, Sons of Anarchy, In Treatment, Glee, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, The Watcher, and American Horror Story: NYC.

He directed music videos for Bob Dylan ("It's Unbelievable"), the New Kids On The Block ("Games"[3]), Janet Jackson and Luther Vandross ("The Best Things in Life Are Free"[4]).

Barclay was often hired to direct videos for films, introducing audiences to House Party (1990), White Men Can't Jump (1992), Mo' Money (1992), Posse (1993), and Cool Runnings (1993), among others.

Barclay also directed the HBO movie, The Cherokee Kid (1996), a Western dramedy starring Sinbad, James Coburn, Burt Reynolds, Gregory Hines, and A Martinez.

In three years there, Barclay would receive two Emmy Awards for best directing—the second of which was for the episode titled "Hearts and Souls"— featuring the death of Jimmy Smits' character Bobby Simone.

[9] In 2000, Barclay joined forces with fellow NYPD Blue producers Steven Bochco and Nicholas Wootton to create City of Angels, a medical drama with a predominantly African-American cast including Blair Underwood, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Maya Rudolph, and Vivica Fox.

In 2002 he returned to the John Wells fold to produce and direct a pilot, The Big Time, featuring Christina Hendricks, Dylan Baker, Molly Ringwald and Christopher Lloyd—which eventually aired as a two-hour movie.

Other shows he directed in the decade include The West Wing, Huff, Law & Order, Numb3rs, Lost, House, The Shield, Weeds, Monk,The Good Wife, NCIS: Los Angeles, Sons of Anarchy, CSI, The Mentalist and 9 episodes of Glee.

In 2016, Barclay joined the Shondaland family by directing an episode of ABC's critically acclaimed show, Scandal, created/produced by Shonda Rhimes, starring Kerry Washington.

[17] In 2017, Barclay directed the pilot of and executive produced another Shondaland project, Station 19, which follows a group of Seattle firefighters in a spinoff of the highly successful Grey's Anatomy.

[18] The powerhouse lineup of supportive film and television actors, influencers, musicians and professional athletes, includes Adam Rippon,[19] Shea Diamond,[20] Alexandra Billings, Blossom Brown, Justina Machado,[21] Gloria Calderon Kellett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Lynch, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Justin Mikita,[22] Charlie and Max Carver, Karamo Brown,[23] Marcia Gay Harden, and Nyle DiMarco.

[24] In May 2021, Barclay directed a virtual reading of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, with Sterling K. Brown, Laverne Cox, Jeremy Pope and Guillermo Diaz.

Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter[27] wrote, "Directed with more empathy than voyeurism by Paris Barclay, 'Silenced' tells the story of Tony Hughes (excellent newcomer Rodney Burnford [sic]), presented here as perhaps the only victim with whom Jeffrey had traces of a real relationship.

[30] After Dahmer, Paris reteamed with Ryan Murphy to executive produce and direct 2 episodes of the Netflix series The Watcher (with Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, Margo Martindale and Mia Farrow).

Praised by most reviewers[35][36] and opening days before the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Vietnam musical reportedly hit home emotionally with many who performed in it, produced it, or experienced it.

"[38] Barclay returned to Vietnam with One Red Flower: Letters from ‘Nam, a reworked version of the musical was produced at the Village Theater in Issaquah to further acclaim,[39] with Levi Kreis and David Burnham reprising their roles.

Maureen McGovern, Levi Kreis and David Burnham returned in featured roles, with television stars Hunter Parrish and Josh Henderson.

Although it was not a full production, again it received glowing reviews, described by Beverly Cohn in the Santa Monica Mirror as an "evening that had the audience smiling with a lump in its throat.

The DGA has worked for more than three-quarters of a century to advance the creative and economic rights of directors and their teams and I look forward to continuing this strong tradition of service.

As the son of a glass blower and a tile maker from Chicago, I am extremely humbled to have the honor to serve in the footsteps of the legendary leaders of the DGA like Frank Capra, Robert Wise and Gil Cates."

"[53] In an interview with TV Fanatic, Glee actor Blake Jenner credited Barclay for guiding him through a difficult scene in the episode "Lights Out", saying "He was just so nurturing.

One of his first assistants was Kevin Williamson, writer of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, and the creator and executive producer of the hit television shows Dawson’s Creek, The Vampire Diaries, and The Following.

[57] Josh Barry, another former Barclay assistant,[58] was the head of the television department at Prospect Park after working as an executive in Drama Development at ABC.

[60] Sam Martin, the former HBO executive (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Lackawanna Blues) and film producer (Pariah), and Jason Clodfelter, former VP of Drama Development and now Co-President at Sony Television,[60] both previously served as Barclay assistants.