[3] The reality television series The Simple Life (2003–2007), in which she co-starred with her friend Nicole Richie, and a leaked 2003 sex tape with her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, later released as 1 Night in Paris (2004), catapulted her to global fame.

[28][29] With mother Kathy and sister Nicky, Hilton modeled as a child at charity events,[30] graced the May 4, 1988, cover of the weekly magazine Beverly Hills 213,[31] and made an uncredited appearance in the fantasy film Wishman (1992).

[36] A New Yorker profile by Bob Morris, published in October that year, described her and her sister as "the littlest socialites in town [...] Without even a smile, they can breeze past the velvet ropes at Moomba or get a seat at Le Bilboquet".

[44] In addition to modeling, Hilton ventured into screen acting, playing an ill-fated character in the independent teen thriller Sweetie Pie (2000),[20] and filming a cameo appearance as herself in the comedy Zoolander (2001), with Ben Stiller.

Hilton's breakout came in 2003, when she starred with her childhood friend and 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.

[50][51] By 2004, Hilton had taken on a number of supporting and guest-starring roles in feature films and scripted television series such as Raising Helen and The O.C., signed on to appear in a series of advertisement campaigns for Guess,[52] released an autobiography co-written by Merle Ginsberg, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose,[53][54] which was seventh on The New York Times Best Seller list,[55] and introduced a lifestyle brand (with a purse collection for the Japanese label Samantha Thavasa, a jewelry line sold on Amazon.com,[56][57] as well as a perfume line in collaboration with Parlux Fragrances).

to protest the addition of several nude scenes,[83] which resulted in Worldwide Entertainment Group suing Hilton in August 2008, at the Miami District Court, alleging that she did not fulfill her contractual agreement to provide "reasonable promotion and publicity" for the film, despite receiving a US$1 million fee for the role.

[127] Alessandra Stanley, for The New York Times, described her as an "attractive woman with proven talent for marketing and self-promotion, though as a reality heroine she seems a little passé [...] it's hard to see how she can recapture the kind of audience she enjoyed in her heyday—even by streaming her premiere live on Facebook".

[153] After appearing in the music video for Rich Gang's song "Tapout" (2013), alongside Lil Wayne, Christina Milian and Nicki Minaj,[154] it was announced that Hilton had signed with Cash Money Records.

[179] Between 2017 and 2019, Hilton appeared in the music videos for "Senza Pagare" by Fedez,[180] "Sorry Not Sorry" by Demi Lovato,[181] "I Don't Want It at All" by Kim Petras,[182] "Lil One" by Young Thug and Birdman,[183] and "Flowers" by Gabi DeMartino.

[231] In 2020, Hilton served as a guest judge in the premiere episode of James Charles's YouTube series Instant Influencer,[232] produced and starred in Ramez Silyan's short film Sorry,[233] modeled at Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Vol.

[275] In 2023, she held her first concert at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles,[276] recorded the single "Hot One",[277] collaborated with Steve Aoki on "Lighter",[278] modeled for Mugler at Paris Fashion Week,[279] released a cookware collection with Walmart,[280] and performed as a disc jockey at Tomorrowland.

[288][289] In 2011, Hilton supported the LGBT rights organization NOH8,[290] and participated at the American Red Cross run to benefit relief effort in Japan, hosted by actor Josh Duhamel in Santa Monica, CA.

[306] On October 20, Hilton held a press conference at the United States Capitol, with lawmakers Ro Khanna and Jeff Merkley, to advocate for the introduction of the Accountability for Congregate Care Act, which would establish a bill of rights with protections for children in such facilities.

Known for her long bleached blonde hair, valley girl accent, and use of blue colored contact lenses over her naturally brown eyes, she developed her personal aesthetic through mainly pink attire, Juicy Couture tracksuits, rhinestones, trucker hats, oversized sunglasses, and the "accessory dog".

To this day Paris Hilton continues to represent the epitome of naff; she's still striking the same poses, wearing the same glitzy gowns, faffing over her dogs as ferociously as ever [...]"[344] Her dim-witted blonde persona, a carefully crafted act, found significant credence among the general public, which she has described as an obstacle in her career.

[42] After her pictorial by David LaChapelle and September 2000 article for Vanity Fair, Hilton was hailed as "New York's leading It Girl", whose fame was beginning to "extend beyond the [local] tabloids", by The Guardian in February 2001.

[30] The scandal involving her sex tape, which arose shortly before the December 2003 premiere of The Simple Life, ultimately catapulted her into global fame and made her an overnight subject of media frenzy, paparazzi attention and public scrutiny.

[340] In an effort to "rehabilite her public image" and "capitalise" on the increased curiosity following the release of her sex tape, Hilton started to promote herself through different forms of mass media such as advertising, publishing and broadcasting.

[358] Emerging media outlets often received criticism for having a personality cult around figures such as Hilton,[359] but TMZ founder Harvey Levin attributed their coverage on her to how it helped draw a high viewership to the website.

[364] According to Pew Research Center, roughly a third of Americans (34%) followed news about Hilton very or fairly closely, with public interest in her surpassing that in the 2008 presidential campaign, The G8 summit, and talks between George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin.

[397] It has been said that Hilton's rise to fame, coinciding with society's increased fixation on celebrity and the internet becoming a more accessible medium,[398] facilitated the insurgency of an unprecedented type of celebrity—which was initially promoted by reality television and has since intensified with the posterior growth of social media—whose displays of its private life became an unusual focus of public interest, and therefore, their own source of income.

[414] For instance, a paparazzi photograph of her, at that time, could range from US$8,000 to US$1 million,[415] celebrity-focused newspapers and media agencies (e.g. TMZ and Hollywood.TV) attributed part of their large viewership to their coverage on Hilton,[359] and a network of gossip blogs such as PerezHilton.com emerged after she rose to fame.

[327] Feminist theorist Camille Paglia described her as a "groundbreaking" figure in Hollywood, while in her book The Bling Ring, an account on the group of thieves who robbed Hilton's house, Nancy Jo Sales positioned her as a "celebrity symbol of how destructive individualism ruled the 2000s".

The World of Warcraft massively multiplayer online role-playing game has featured a character named Haris Pilton, labeled a "socialite", since the release of The Burning Crusade expansion on January 15, 2007.

[440][441] In The Good Place episode "The Brainy Bunch" (2018), an American-themed restaurant includes a wall art featuring an alternative Mount Rushmore formed by Hilton, David Hasselhoff, Judge Judy, and Hulk Hogan.

[443][444] Throughout Hilton's adulthood, numerous aspects of her personal life—particularly, her uninhibited and extravagant jet set lifestyle, her extensive list of friendships, relationships and romantic associations with other high-profile figures, heavy partying, and reported instances of inappropriate behavior—have drawn a large amount of media attention and public disapproval.

On June 7, 2007, Los Angeles County Sheriff, Lee Baca signed an order resentencing Hilton to 40 days of home confinement with an electronic monitoring device due to an unspecified medical condition.

[523] On January 22, 2007, her private life became public on ParisExposed.com, a website with images of personal documents, video and other material allegedly obtained when the contents of a storage locker rented by Hilton were auctioned in lieu of a US$208 payment.

[540] In December 2014, Hilton filed a report with the Los Angeles Police Department after receiving anti-Semitic messages on social media from a man who believed she was Jewish; he threatened to rape and kill her.