This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst 2006. If you believe Paris Hilton makes too much money, cast your vote.

Socialite, singer, actress, and model, Paris Hilton is an heiress to the Hilton Hotel fortune. Already a celebrity in Manhattan and Los Angeles nightlife circles, she came to wide attention for starring in the reality television program The Simple Life, and for the infamous sex video that was leaked onto the Internet. She is also the niece of former child stars Kim and Kyle Richards, who appeared in the film Escape to Witch Mountain, and also distantly related to actresses Zsa Zsa Gabor and Elizabeth Taylor.

Hilton grew up in homes in Beverly Hills and the Hamptons, as well as a suite at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. She dropped out of high school, but earned a GED, and did not go on to college. Besides starring in The Simple Life, she has also had cameo appearances in television programs such as The OC and Veronica Mars, in music videos by Eminem and John Oates, starred in a TV commercial for the Carl's Jr. burger restaurant chain, and made numerous appearances at red carpet events. Her role in the film House of Wax earned her a Worst Supporting Actress Razzie Award in 2005.

She is the founder of Heiress Records, a record label whose only release is a Paris Hilton album. Her other projects include a line of jewelry, a chain of nightclubs, and a New York Times bestselling book of advice for would-be heiresses. In 2004 she participated in a campaign to encourage young people to vote, though it was later revealed that she hadn't bothered to register to vote herself.

While she has been quoted comparing herself to blonde icons Princess Diana and Marilyn Monroe, she will reportedly appear in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most overrated celebrity.