Paris Hilton
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Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981 in New York, New York) is an American heiress of the Hilton Hotel fortune, a socialite, model and actress. She is commonly referred to as being "famous for being famous."
She is the eldest of four children born to real estate mogul Richard Hilton and former actress and model Kathy Richards. Her sister and brothers are Nicholai Olivia "Nicky" Hilton, Barron Nicholas Hilton and Conrad Hughes Hilton.
Her paternal grandparents are Barron Hilton and Marilyn Hawley. He was the second child of Hilton Hotel chain founder Conrad Hilton and Mary Barron. Her granduncles are Conrad "Nicky" Hilton and Eric Hilton, and her grandaunt is Francesca Hilton, whose mother is Zsa Zsa Gabor. The family worth of Barron Hilton and his descendants is estimated at over $335,000,000.
On the maternal side of her family, Hilton is a niece of two popular Disney child stars of the 1970s and 1980s, Kim Richards and Kyle Richards, who appeared in the motion picture Escape to Witch Mountain and TV series like Nanny and the Professor, Little House on the Prairie and ER.
Hilton moved between several homes in her youth, including a suite in the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and the Hamptons. After secondary education, she decided not to go to college. Instead, she worked as a fashion model for Catherine Malandrino and Marc Bouwer, and on an ad campaign for Italian label Iceberg (http://www.iceberg.com).
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Celebrity
Paris and her sister Nicky, with whom she is often mentioned, are known for their jet-set lifestyles, though Paris has more readily sought the spotlight as a celebrity.
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, however, dated several notables, including actor Edward Furlong, boxer Oscar De La Hoya, model Jason Shaw, Chicago Bears football player Brian Urlacher, and singers Rob Mills, Deryck Whibley, and Backstreet Boy Nick Carter. While Hilton was dating Nick Carter she sported bruises, which caused rumors that Carter may have beat her. This rumor was neither confirmed nor denied by Hilton at the time. A few months later, she announced that those "bruises" were from a magazine photo shoot (just when the magazine was coming out). She was also blamed by the media for breaking up the relationship between Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis and singer Delta Goodrem.
Hilton has also received a lot of press for a variety of other incidents, mainly party antics. She has been said to have pushed in front of others in line for a public bathroom, saying she only wanted to look at herself in the mirror. Hilton has danced on the top of bar banquettes, worn shirts reading "Got Blow?," and other times worn no top at all. One of her more famous quotes is: "What's a soup kitchen?" Her most famous quote, however, is "That's hot," which is used by Hilton in a myriad of situations.
Acting career
Hilton has an acting career on top of her other fame. She has had cameo appearances in Zoolander (2001) and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004). She also 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, Uptown Girls, Raising Helen, The Cat in the Hat, and Nine Lives. Pictures of her have appeared in several magazines, including GQ, Vanity Fair and FHM.
She and her former best friend, Nicole Richie, 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." On March 19, 2004, she suffered a horseback riding accident while filming The Simple Life 2, requiring treatment at a hospital.
She was also the subject of a South Park episode entitled "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset" in which she opens a store called "Stupid Spoiled Whore" selling girls everything they need to emulate her.
On top of her acting career, she has also helped to design purses for Samantha Thavasa and Toys for Tots. Despite her successes, Hilton's recent attempts to start a modeling company and a makeup line seem to have been unsuccessful. She is the founder of Heiress Records, a label on which she plans to release her debut album in 2005. She is also a spokesmodel for various products including the T-Mobile Sidekick and Creative Zen Micro.
Her dog, book and friendship with Richie
Hilton owns a teacup Chihuahua named Tinkerbell. In August 2004, Tinkerbell was reported lost and a $5,000 reward was offered for her safe return. Tinkerbell was found a week later, having been left at the home of Hilton's grandparents.
In the fall of 2004, Hilton released a book, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose, which brings full color photographs of her and gives her tips on the dos and don'ts of living as an heiress. Some in the media panned the writing as amateurish, and the book was parodied by Robert Mundell on The Late Show with David Letterman. Still, it became a New York Times bestseller.
In April 2005, she announced that she severed both personal and professional ties with friend Nicole Richie [1] (http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=690937). Neither party has commented on the reason why, though Hilton has alluded that it is due to actions on the part of Richie. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Hilton hosted a party to watch her performance as host of Saturday Night Live, but that Richie switched the SNL tape with a tape of Hilton's infamous sex video.
Paris Hilton as sex symbol
An unauthorized sex video of Hilton with her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, who leaked it onto the Internet, was released shortly before The Simple Life debuted, causing a sensation. On June 9, 2004 it was released as a DVD titled 1 Night in Paris. Hilton sued Salomon for releasing the tape. In July, the suit was settled, with Hilton receiving $400,000 and a percentage of the profits. All profits she received from the video were donated to charity. The original video, and a rip of the DVD, are still circulating on the Internet. The video received the AVN Awards in 2005 for "Best Selling Title of the Year," "Best Renting Title of the Year" and "Best Overall Marketing Campaign – Individual Project."
There has been speculation that Hilton may be gay or bisexual. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Hilton stated that she did not receive much enjoyment from sex with men. It has also been rumored that there exists a video featuring Paris in a lesbian sex romp with her friend Nicole Lenz, a Playboy Playmate. In February 2005, she admitted in an interview that she has a crush on Jennifer Aniston. [2] (http://sify.com/movies/hollywood/fullstory.php?id=13673478), [3] (http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/celebrity/25742004.htm)
Hacked address book
On February 19, 2005, conceptual art outlaws, Seahorse Liberation Army, posted the contents of Hilton's personal T-Mobile account to the Internet: phone numbers (which included many celebrities such as Christina Aguilera, Fred Durst, Eminem, Lindsay Lohan, Jay-Z, Anna Kournikova, Andy Roddick, Avril Lavigne), notes (with even more numbers and email addresses, and reminders such as her date to host Saturday Night Live), and thirty-five digital snapshots. In two of the leaked photos, Hilton is standing topless next to the MTV Latin America's VJ Eglantina Zingg, whom she kisses. This further added to the speculation that Hilton might be gay or bisexual. Many of her notes showed heavy usage of Internet slang.
Within days, it was revealed [4] (http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2005/01/01/paris.html) that Hilton's account could be accessed by anyone guessing the answer to the "forgotten password" challenge question she chose: "What is your favorite pet's name?" As the answer to this question is a matter of public record, [5] (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1560250/) an anonymous party was able to guess it and notify the press.
"That's hot"
"That's hot" is a phrase popularized by Hilton (although an earlier usage is attributed to her Simple Life co-star Nicole Richie [6] (http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/9/emw157359.htm) and has been used by others for many years). The catch phrase, a synonym for "That's cool" or "That's awesome," has since been parodied in pop culture outlets such as Saturday Night Live [7] (http://snltranscripts.jt.org/04/04chilton.phtml) and even by Hilton herself, on The Late Show with David Letterman.
In 2004, Hilton filed a request to trademark the phrase "that's hot." Experts doubt that her request will be approved, but she has taken the necessary steps to re-file should she be denied. [8] (http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=76604206&action=Request+Status) She wishes to market clothing with the phrase prominently emblazoned on the garments; she felt it was time to trademark the phrase because "I've been saying it forever. I want to put it on T-shirts and stuff like that." [9] (http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2004/09/18/story167128.asp)
Advertisement controversy
Another controversy involving Hilton was her appearance in a Carl's Jr. television advertisement, originally broadcast in May 2005. In the commercial, which introduces the restaurant's "Spicy BBQ Six Dollar Burger", Hilton wears a provocative swimsuit and soaps up a Bentley automobile and herself before taking a big bite out of the burger.
This has drawn criticism from television watchdog groups, including the Parents Television Council. The research director for the PTC, Melissa Caldwell, says; "This commercial is basically soft-core porn. The way she moves, the way she puts her finger in her mouth - it's very suggestive and very titillating." The Los Angeles, California based group says they plan to mobilize their more than 1 million members to contact the restaurant chain and voice their concern.
Andy Puzder, CEO of Carl's Jr., says the group needs to "get a life...This isn't Janet Jackson -- there is no nipple in this. There is no nudity, there is no sex acts -- it's a beautiful model in a swimsuit washing a car." Puzder was referring to the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy.
In addition to featuring the ad on their web site, Carl's Jr. has also built a separate Web site to play a longer version of the commercial. A similar ad with Hilton for Hardee's hamburger chain (also owned by Carl's Jr. parent corporation CKE Restaurants) is expected to air June 2005.
Engagement
Although she has been linked to many other famous men, including Nick Carter among others, on May 29, 2005 it was announced that she is to marry her boyfriend of five months, Paris Latsis. Latsis is a Greek shipping heir. It will be the first marriage for both.
Filmography
- Wishman (1991) (Girl on the Beach)
- Sweetie Pie (2000) (Girl)
- Zoolander (2001) (Herself) (Cameo)
- Nine Lives (2002) (Jo)
- QIK2JDG (2002) (short subject) (Strung-Out Supermodel)
- L.A. Knights (2003) (short subject) (Sadie)
- Pauly Shore Is Dead (2003) (Herself)
- Wonderland (2003) (Barbie)
- The Cat in the Hat (2003) (Female Club Goer)
- Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004) (Herself) (Cameo)
- Raising Helen (2004) (Amber)
- The Hillz (2004) (Heather)
- House of Wax (2005) (Paige Edwards)
- National Lampoon's Pledge This! (2005) (currently in post-production) (also executive producer) (Victoria)
- Bottom's Up (2006) (currently in post-production) (Lisa Mancini)
Selected TV appearances
- The Simple Life (2003) (reality series regular) ... Herself
- Las Vegas (February 2, 2004) ... Madison ... episode: Things That Go Jump in the Night
- The George Lopez Show (February 27, 2004) ... Ashley ... episode: Jason Tutors Max
- The O.C. (March 24, 2004) ... Kate ... episode: The L.A.
- The Simple Life 2: Road Trip (2004) (reality series regular) ... Herself
- Veronica Mars (September 28, 2004) ... Caitlin Ford ... episode: Credit Where Credit's Due
- The Simple Life 3: Interns (2005) (reality series regular) ... Herself
- Saturday Night Live (February 5, 2005) ... Hosting ...
- American Dreams (March 16, 2005) ... Barbara Eden of "I Dream of Jeannie"
- Live at Much Music (May 3, 2005) ... With the cast of House of Wax.
- The Diary (May 8, 2005) ... Becky ...episode: The Truth
- Charmed (May 20, 2005) ... Ashley ...episode: Something Wicca This Way Goes
- KL Minute (June 2, 2005) ... Archive Footage as Herself/Paige Edwards of House of Wax... episode: Original One
Parodies
- South Park, December 1, 2004: episode "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset."
- The movie White Chicks
Sources
- SpicyBurger controversy (http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/24/news/newsmakers/carls_ad/)
- Address book hacked (http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/21/technology/personaltech/hilton_cellphone/index.htm)
External links
- Template:Imdb name
- Rotten.com's Paris Hilton Biography (http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/black-sheep/paris-hilton/)
- Paris Hilton (http://www.westlord.com/parishilton/) - at WestLordde:Paris Hilton
eo:Paris HILTON fr:Paris Hilton he:פריס הילטון no:Paris Hilton pt:Paris Hilton sv:Paris Hilton