Ogata was born and raised in Pearl City, Hawaii, and moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to devote more time to performing stand-up comedy.

)[2] Paul Ogata worked for years as a top-rated[3] morning radio personality in Honolulu on KDDB-FM.

In 2004, he was victorious in the TakeOut Comedy Competition, earning the title of "Funniest Asian-American Comedian in the U.S."[4] In 2007, Ogata won the prestigious San Francisco International Comedy Competition,[5] joining a list of previous winners which include Dana Carvey, Sinbad and Jake Johannsen.

Paul Ogata also appeared in the Damon Wayans motion picture Behind The Smile, and starred in the short film Amazing Asian.

[7] In November of 2023, Paul Ogata joined the cast of the Cirque du Soleil show, Mad Apple, at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he appears regularly as the show’s featured comedian several months a year.