Paul Newman was born on 26 January 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Paul Newman grew up in an affluent suburb of Cleveland, where his parents ran a sports supply shop. A bright, sporty boy at school, Newman was often involved in theatre productions. Upon graduation, Newman hoped to become a Navy pilot, but his blue eyes were actually blind to colour and, for the duration of WW2, he had to be content with being a radio operator.

On a trip to New York Newman won a role in a CBS television series called The Aldrich Family. The young Newman was soon spotted by Warner Brothers and moved to Hollywood upon signing his first contract with them. Although his screen debut was in the poorly received The Silver Chalice (1954), Warners kept faith with him and in his third movie Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), the story of the boxer Rocky Graziano, he hit the jackpot; it was both a commercial and critical success.

Newman excelled as the aspiring pool champion of "The Hustler" (1961), the sexually predatory "Hud" (1963) and the prison inmate "Cool Hand Luke" (1967). (The latter was memorable for his famous egg-eating challenge.) His less successful roles during this period emphasized either his animal energy (e.g., his bandit-rapist in the American revamp of "Rashomon", "The Outrage" 1964) or his keen intelligence (e.g., the romantic comedy of "A New Kind of Love" 1963; Alfred Hitchcock's dreadful "Torn Curtain" 1966, with Newman as a physicist!).

In 1968, Newman directed his wife Joanne Woodward in 'Rachel, Rachel' which was nominated for an Oscar. He won his own Oscar for best actor as an aging pool shark in 'The Colour of Money' (1986).

A longtime resident of Westport, Connecticut, Paul Newman has devoted nearly as much time to charity as he has to his career. He and Woodward established the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang Camp for terminally ill children, and the anti-drug Scott Newman Foundation, named in memory of Newman's only son, who died of an accidental drug overdose in 1978. Through his "Newman's Own" line of food products, Newman has donated more than $100 million to countless charities.