Paris Hilton

Born in New York City on February 17, 1981 to real estate mogul Richard Hilton and former actress Kathy Richards, Hilton was predictably spoiled and pampered from childhood. Today, Paris and younger sister, Nicky Hilton, with whom she is often mentioned, are known for their jet-set lifestyles and party-girl antics. However, it is Paris who is more famous for her appearance in the reality show Simple Life that depicts the young heiress, along with co-star, Nicole Richie, pathetically out of place on a rural farm.

Even more famously - just before the show first aired in 2003 - Hilton's then-boyfriend Rick Solomon leaked a video onto the Web showing the couple in a very intimate moment. It caused an instant Internet sensation and, coincidently, the Simple Life ratings to skyrocket.

As the original video continues to circulate on the Internet, Paris continues to raise eyebrows in tabloid reports on her latest escapades. Typically, they include stories about gate-crashing parties to which she hasn't been invited or, more recently, quotes from her new book entitled Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose. At one point the author reveals: "It's traditional for an heiress to be raised in a sheltered way. No one thinks that's true of me, but it actually was." A more telling relevation might be the unconfirmed, but legendary sound bite overheard at a party in which an unprepared Hilton asks "What's a soup kitchen?"

In October 2004, more steamy tapes are rumored to have been stolen from Hilton's Hollywood home showing the heiress in yet another romp with ex-boyfriends Backstreet Boy Nick Carter and Tommy Hilfiger model Jason Shaw.

In 2005, Hilton has been in the news yet again after a computer hacker broke into her cell phone and published her personal photographs and celebrity-laden phone directory on the illmob.org Web site.

In May, Hilton stars in her first theatrical release in the remake of the 1953 thriller, House of Wax (trailer) opposite Chad Michael Murray.

Meanwhile, recent reports of a cast shakeup has pal Nicole Richie being replaced with Hilton's lifelong friend Kimberly Stewart, the daughter of rocker Rod Stewart, in next season's "The Simple Life 4".