Noted Hollywood

Newman was born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and grew up in nearby Shaker Heights. He served in the United States Navy during World War II, training as a radioman and tail gunner before the war ended. After earning a degree in drama and economics from Kenyon College in 1949, he studied at the Actors Studio in New York under Lee Strasberg and launched a stage career on Broadway.

His film breakthrough came in 1956 with Somebody Up There Likes Me, and over the following decades he established himself as one of Hollywood's leading actors. His Academy Award for Best Actor came for The Color of Money in 1986, capping a body of work that included nominations for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Hustler, Hud, Cool Hand Luke, Absence of Malice, The Verdict, Nobody's Fool, and Road to Perdition, among others.

Newman's connection to racing began in earnest while preparing for his role in the 1969 auto racing film Winning. He trained at the Watkins Glen Racing School under instructor Bob Bondurant, discovering what he described as "the first thing that I ever found I had any grace in." His passion for the sport grew quickly, and he also hosted the 1971 television documentary Once Upon a Wheel, on the history of auto racing.

His first professional racing event was in 1972 at Thompson International Speedway, where he entered quietly under the name "P. L. Newman" — a convention he maintained throughout his time as a competitor.

Newman became a frequent competitor in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) road racing events through the 1970s and ultimately won four national championships as a driver. From the mid-1970s into the early 1990s, he drove primarily for the Bob Sharp Racing team, competing mainly in Datsun and later Nissan machinery in the Trans-Am Series. His relationship with the Nissan brand became well known in Japan, where he appeared in commercials and had a special edition of the Nissan Skyline named after him.

In international endurance racing, Newman competed at the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans in Dick Barbour's Porsche 935, finishing second overall. He reunited with Barbour to compete in the Petit Le Mans in 2000. At the age of 70 years and eight days, Newman became the oldest driver to be part of a winning team in a major sanctioned race when he won his class at the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona — a record that stood for many years. He continued racing into his eighties, winning at Lime Rock Park in a Corvette that displayed his age as its car number: 81. He took pole position in his final professional race in 2007 at Watkins Glen International.

Newman also drove in the 1976 Can-Am series through Newman Freeman Racing, a team he formed with Bill Freeman. Powered by a Budweiser-sponsored, Chevrolet-engined Spyder NF, the team was competitive in the North American Can-Am series and won the Can-Am Team Championship in 1979.

In 1983, Newman co-founded Newman/Haas Racing with professional racing manager Carl Haas. Competing in the Champ Car series and its predecessors, the team became one of the most successful organizations in American open-wheel racing, winning eight drivers' championships over the course of its history. Notable drivers who competed under the Newman/Haas banner included Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, and Sebastien Bourdais.

Newman was also briefly involved in NASCAR when he co-founded a research and development team with Hendrick Motorsports, running car number 18 with Greg Sacks driving. The team was shut down after two seasons following the loss of its primary sponsor. He was additionally a partner in the Atlantic Championship team Newman Wachs Racing.

Newman was posthumously inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame in February 2009. Lime Rock Park renamed its No Name Straight as Paul Newman Straight in 2022. His racing life was documented in the 2015 film Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman.

With writer A. E. Hotchner, Newman founded Newman's Own in 1982, a food products company that donated all post-tax profits to charity. By May 2021 those donations totaled over $570 million. He also co-founded the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in 1988, a residential summer camp for seriously ill children, which expanded into a global network of camps under the SeriousFun Children's Network. In 2006 he co-founded the Safe Water Network.

Newman died on September 26, 2008, at his home in Westport, Connecticut, from lung cancer, at the age of 83. His voice work as the retired racing car Doc Hudson in Pixar's Cars (2006) brought his motorsport identity to a new generation of audiences.