Paris Hilton
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Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an heiress to the Hilton Hotel fortune, as well as her father, Richard Hilton's, real estate fortune. In addition to being a famous socialite, Hilton has dabbled in modeling, acting, singing, and writing. She has been described as a "celebutante," a portmanteau of "celebrity" and "debutante."[#endnote_A&E01]
Background
The eldest of four children of Richard Hilton and Kathy Richards. Her younger sister is Nicky Hilton, and her younger brothers are Barron Hilton II and Conrad Hilton II.On the maternal side of her family, Hilton is a niece of two popular child stars of the 1970s - Kim Richards and Kyle Richards, who appeared in the motion picture Escape to Witch Mountain and TV shows like Nanny and the Professor, Little House on the Prairie, and later, ER. By marriage, she also is related to Zsa Zsa Gabor (the Hungarian-born actress married Paris Hilton's great-grandfather Conrad Hilton) as well as Elizabeth Taylor (the actress's first husband was Paris Hilton's great-uncle, Conrad Nicholson Hilton Jr.).
Her paternal grandparents are hotel chairman Barron Hilton and his wife, the former Marilyn Hawley, and her paternal great-grandparents were Hilton Hotel founder Conrad Hilton and his first wife, Mary Barron. When Conrad Hilton died in 1979, he left nothing in his will to his children or other descendants. Barron Hilton contested this decision and won in 1988.
Hilton moved between several exclusive homes in her youth, including a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and the Hamptons. Currently, her parents own a $30.5 million mansion in Bel Air, a $12.3 million estate in the Hamptons, and a $10 million house in the Hollywood Hills in which she and her sister stay to give them privacy and for easy access to clubs in Los Angeles.
After attending high school at the Dwight School in New York, but dropping out and eventually earning a GED, Hilton decided not to attend a university.
Hilton shot to prominence when a sex tape of her with then-boyfriend Rick Salomon was leaked onto the Internet shortly after The Simple Life debuted. On June 9, 2004 it was released as a DVD titled 1 Night in Paris which was presented by Salomon. Hilton sued Salomon for releasing the tape, but the suit was settled. Hilton received US $400,000 and a percentage of the profits, which were donated to charity.
Career
In recent years Hilton has gained recognition by appearing in television, movies, television commercials, and modeling photographs. According to Forbes, in 2003-2004 she earned approximately US $2 million for her television and movie roles, but in 2004-2005 her earnings from television, movies, modeling, and personal appearances have earned her an additional $6.5 million.
Fashion Model
| Paris Hilton Statistics | |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in ) |
| Measurements | 34B-25-35 |
| Shoe size | 11 (Women-U.S.) |
| Eye color | Brown (Naturally brown; wears blue-colored contact lenses) |
| Hair color | Blonde #redirect |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnic background | German/Norwegian |
| [IMDB Entry] | |
Hilton has also been featured in several television commercials, including a T-Mobile commercial for which she was paid $250,000 and her Carl's Jr. commercial for which she was paid $400,000 according to Forbes Magazine.
Actress
Film
She appeared in the short subjects QIK2JDG and L.A. Knights, as well as minor and supporting roles in the feature movies House of Wax, The Hillz, Wonderland, Raising Helen, Bottom's Up and Nine Lives. Hilton won the 2005 Worst Supporting Actress Razzie for House of Wax. She landed her first lead role in a theatrical release with National Lampoon's Pledge This! (2006).She also appeared in cameo roles in Zoolander (2001), The Cat in the Hat (2003) and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004).
Hilton also has several upcoming theatrical releases in which she is the lead, includingThe Hottie and the Nottie and an untitled superhero movie involving Stan Lee.
Television
Hilton and Nicole Richie (adopted daughter of Lionel) starred in the 2003 FOX hit reality series The Simple Life, in which they lived with a family on their farm in rural Altus, Arkansas. Highlights of the show included the girls performing poorly at various jobs, making out with the local boys, and numerous instances of them shown as "fish out of water." It was followed by two more seasons on FOX: The Simple Life 2: Road Trip and The Simple Life 3: Interns, and one currently airing on E!: The Simple Life 4: ' Till Death Do Us Part.Plans for Hilton to lend her name and also star in a cartoon series which follows the animated life of herself, her sister Nicky Hilton, and her dog Tinkerbell are in development [link].
Hilton also guest starred in episodes of teen drama The OC, '60s-set dramedy American Dreams and noir detective show Veronica Mars.
Hilton's voice was used in "See Paris Die!" a viral animation promoting House of Wax.
Singer
Hilton started working on an album in 2004. The album, has had rumoured titles of Paris Hilton, Paris Is Burning, 1 Crazy Party and Screwed. The final title announced for the album is simply self-titled; Paris. She has indicated that the album will feature a number of genres of music, including pop, reggae, and hip-hop. [link] Paris has supposedly worked with Fat Joe and Jadakiss with songs on her current album.
Hilton announced "Stars are Blind", featuring her heavily synthesized voice, is a reggae influenced track produced by Fernando Garibay, as the first single. Her producers for the album include Greg Wells and Kara DioGuardi, Jane Wiedlin from The Go-Go's and Scott Storch.
The album is set for release in the USA on August 7, 2006. [link] But Paris later confirmed that the release date is August 22nd on TRL.
Hilton is also the founder of her own Heiress Records, the label on which she plans to release her debut album. It is a sub-label of Warner Brothers Records and was created in 2004. Hilton also plans to eventually sign new artists.
Discography
Albums:| Album cover | Album information |
|---|---|
| Paris
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Singles:
| Year | Title | Album | Chart positions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. | UK | CAN | AUS | GER | SPN | |||
| 2006 | Stars Are Blind | Paris | 18 | align="center" | ||||
| 3 | 7 | align="center" | ||||||
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| Turn It Up | align="center" | |||||||
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| Screwed | align="center" | |||||||
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Author
In the fall of 2004, Hilton released a book, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose co-written by Merle Ginsberg, which has full color photographs of her and gives her tips on the do's and don'ts of living as an heiress. Hilton was reportedly given $100,000 in advanced payment for this book. Some in the media panned the writing as amateurish, and the book was parodied by Robert Mundell on The Late Show with David Letterman. Nonetheless, the book became a New York Times bestseller.Hilton followed it up with a designer-diary, also with Ginsberg - Your Heiress Diary: Confess It All To Me. Aimed at her young fans, it contained pages encouraging fans to write about their goals, their friends and family, boys, celebrities they admire, etc. Hilton plans to release another book in 2007.
Designer
Hilton has helped design a collection of purses for Tokyo label Samantha Thavasa [link] and has also put her name behind a bargain jewelry line for Amazon.com. [link]Hilton launched the Paris Hilton Limited Edition Watch Collection brand during a news conference at the Tourneau store in New York November 30, 2005. Hilton's 18kt white gold and diamond encrusted watches that she helped design [link] start at $100,000. [link]
Hilton also has plans to launch her own branded fashion and cosmetics lines.
Perfume and cologne
In early May of 2004, Hilton was involved in the creation of a fragrance line by Parlux Fragrances. The perfume would be aptly named "Paris Hilton".Hilton said, "It's really hot. I mixed all these scents together...it smells so good" [link].
The perfume launch was a success. Originally set to be a small release, demand became popular and they had a wider release before Christmas of 2004. The launch as followed by a 47% increase in sales for Parlux, which was mostly due to sales of the Hilton-branded perfume. [link]
After the success of Hilton's perfume, Parlux Fragrances released Paris Hilton for Men, a cologne for Hilton's male admirers, as well as another called "Just Me by Paris Hilton", which is available for both women and men.
Non-profit
In November 2004, Hilton participated in Sean "Diddy" Combs' Citizen Change campaign to encourage youths to vote in the Presidential election. She drew criticism after it was revealed she had neither voted, nor even registered to do so [link][link].Hilton also drew criticism in the Australian media during June 2006 for failing to keep her promise of organizing a benefit concert to raise funds for seriously ill children [link].
Brand
Hilton began her own chain of nightclubs known as Club Paris in 2005. The first of which in Orlando, Florida has been a major success. The second located in Jacksonville, Florida opened July 1, 2006. Hilton is in talks to develop further clubs in Las Vegas, New York, Los Angeles and Miami. She also hopes to take the clubs to overseas markets and to expand the clubs to become five-star hotels featuring accommodation and casinos.Gameloft, a developer and publisher of mobile games, previewed Paris-branded mobile at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). At E3, the game was called "Paris Hilton's Jewel Jam", the name present on all of Gameloft's signage [link]. Hilton was to appear at Gameloft's E3 booth to unveil the product, though she appeared an hour late, saying, "Sorry I’m late. I’m really excited to have my new video game, 'Diamondquest.' Thank you all for coming, and you can download the game." (emphasis added) [link]
As of May 26, 2005, Gameloft's press release states that the game's name is Paris Hilton's Diamond Quest, stating "With a previous working title of Jewel Jam, the company decided on a final title to better reflect the fresh, dynamic and sexy appeal of the heiress extraordinaire." [link]
Sex symbol
Hilton has been widely discussed by tabloids. In 2000, the National Enquirer reported a casual friendship with Leonardo DiCaprio as something far more intimate. She has also been linked with other young celebrities, including filmmaker Vincent Gallo, actor Edward Furlong, boxer Oscar De La Hoya, Chicago Bears football player Brian Urlacher, hockey player Jose Theodore, and singers Rob Mills, Deryck Whibley, Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, former University of Southern California quarterback, Matt Leinart, Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis, oil heir Brandon Davis, and English cricketer Kevin Pietersen.
Hilton was engaged to Tommy Hilfiger model Jason Shaw from mid-2002 to early 2003. On May 29, 2005, she announced her engagement to Paris Latsis, a Greek shipping heir. However, on October 1, 2005, Hilton announced that the five-month engagement had been called off. Soon thereafter, she began dating another Greek shipping heir, Stavros Niarchos III, but as of May 2, 2006, Hilton publicist Elliot Mintz told the press of the reported breakup.
In the March 2005 issue of Playboy, she was named the "Sex Star of the Year" in their list of the 25 Sexiest Celebrities. Someone appearing to be her was on the cover of the issue, but she did not pose for it; her spokeswoman said she did not know where Playboy got that picture [link].
On March 8, 2006, Brian Quintana, an event producer, was granted a three-year restraining order against Hilton after he testified that she harassed and threatened him. Quintana claimed their relationship soured after he urged Stavros Niarchos to reconsider dating Hilton. [link]
In May of 2006, Maxim magazine ranked Hilton #38 on its annual [Hot 100] list.
In an attempt to "rediscover herself," Hilton imposed a ban on sexual activity for one year. She told Regis and Kelly, "I'm doing it just because I want to. I feel I'm becoming stronger as a person. Every time I have a boyfriend, I'm just so romantic, and I'll put all my energy into the guy, and I don't really pay attention to myself. One-night stands are not for me. I think it's gross when you just give it up. Guys want you more if you don't just hand it to them on a platter. If they want you, then they will wait. You have to make them work for it. I think that's the only way you know if they really want you or just want to be able to brag that they've been with you." [link] Despite her comments of a single life, Paris was photographed kissing Brandon Davis on July 16, 2006 in West Hollywood. [link]
References
- [#endnote_A&E01] [Biography: Paris Hilton] November 4 2005, A&E Television Networks.
- ↑ Gary, Crary [Activists campaign against seal hunt] February 2, 2004 ESPN.
See also
External links
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