Perez Hilton is the larger than life persona of a celebrity-obsessed blogger who is both loved and hated for his style of gossip-blogging.

Perez Hilton is the fictional persona of Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., a 30-something Latino American born in Miami. Lavandeira received a bachelor’s degree in drama from New York University in 2000 and dreamed of being an actor.

Before setting out to Los Angeles, Lavandeira briefly worked in media relations and as a reporter for Star Magazine. Upon being fired from Star Magazine Lavandeira moved cross country to Los Angeles.

Broke and unemployed in Los Angeles Lavandeira began blogging. His blog started out as PageSixSixSix.com until the New York Post, creator of the "Page Six" gossip column, sued. Over the course of a year Lavandeira’s basic personal blog turned into PerezHilton.com, a snarky blog filled with celebrity gossip and juvenile graffiti splattered photos (usually lifted from photo agencies) complete with hot pink background centered around the persona of Perez Hilton.

In a recent Wired Magazine feature, Lavandeira explained his Perez Hilton persona, "Perez is the outsider—the gay Latino, the interloper. And Hilton is the mainstream—Hollywood, pop culture."

On PerezHilton.com, Lavandeira unapologetically comments on the bizarre and often ridiculous behavior of Hollywood starlets Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and celebutantes like Paris Hilton along with seemingly untouchable movie stars. He posts photos from awards shows, clubs, private events and in a grand tradition of self-promotion, photos of himself.

Apparently, this kind of coverage is enormously popular; Wired Magazine and AdWeek magazine have both reported PerezHilton.com page views easily top 1 million per year and advertisements on his homepage earn up to approximately $54,000 per day, making Lavandeira a millionaire.

The mainstream media including celebrity magazines and news magazines have reacted dramatically to PerezHilton.com, lambasting Lavandeira’s motives and integrity. Regardless, Perez Hilton makes headlines. Newsweek magazine labeled the blogger "celebrity sniper-blogger" while GQ magazine refers to him as a "microcelebrity" because of his unrepentant pursuit of fame and fortune.

Time magazine named Hilton a runner-up for its annual "100 Most Influential People," for 2008 describing his pop culture influence widespread: "His raucous, bitchy celebri-blog continues to be a mainstay of the New Voyeurism, despite all the slings, arrows and lawsuits of Perez haters."

Hilton has found himself the target of many lawsuits, mostly filed by disgruntled celebrities, movie studios and photo agencies over copyright infringement for the unauthorized use of their photos. Hilton has also filed a lawsuit against copycat bloggers like perezrevenge.com.

Still, Hilton has a huge fan base of mostly female Us Weekly magazine and other celebrity magazine readers. He has parlayed this influence into many different business opportunities for himself including a possible record label deal with Warner Music—Hilton often promotes his favorite unknown artists on his site and fans have responded in droves on iTunes—VH1 picked up a reality-based television show starring Hilton and soon he will have a syndicated radio show.