Paul John Hollywood was born in 1966 in Wallasey in Cheshire. He is the son of bakery proprietor John F. Hollywood and Gillian Harman. He was a student at The Mosslands School. Hollywood studied sculpture at the Wallasey School of Art but left the school to start work as a baker. He first worked in a bakery in York and then in other bakeries on Merseyside. He then went on to become head baker at a number of hotels including The Dorchester, Chester Grosvenor and Spa, and the Cliveden Hotel. He later left the UK for Cyprus, where he worked at two big resorts. 

The Great British Bake Off

Paul Hollywood is now a judge on The Great British Bake Off. His partnership with Mary Berry has been described in The Guardian as being the "secret weapon" of the show and potentially one of the best judging combinations to have appeared on reality television. 

Paul Hollywood has a surprising hobby

In 2015 Hollywood began his racing career, making his debut in the Beechdean AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT4. 

Paul Hollywood's personal life

Hollywood met his wife, Alexandra, in Cyprus where he was a head baker at a five star hotel and she was a scuba diving instructor. They later married on the same island. Paul and Alex separated in 2013, after he admitted to an affair with his The American Baking Competition co-host Marcela Valladolid, they then reconciled and then separated again in November 2017.