Hunter was born on 14 October 1978 in Leeds, England and was educated at St Andrews Primary School and Cardinal Heenan High School. Aged nine, he was awarded an award for being the best best junior snooker player of the year. He often travelled to Bradford to practise alongside professional player Joe Johnson. He won many junior tournaments and at the age of 14 won the English Doubles Championship with Richard Brooke. With the help of Jimmy Michie and Johnson, Hunter made his debut among the professionals in July 1995 at the age of 16.
Four months after his professional debut, Hunter reached the second round of the 1995 UK Championship by defeating world number six Alan McManus 9–4. At the 1996 Welsh Open
he reached the semi-final beating world champion Stephen Hendry in the last 16. The same year he reached the quarter-finals of the UK Championship, where he beat Willie Thorne 9–0, James Wattana 9–5 and Terry Murphy 9–7, before losing 5–9 to Hendry, who went on to win the event. Hunter played at the 1997 Masters, where he lost 1–5 against Mark Williams in the first round.
Hunter won his first ranking event at the 1998 Welsh Open. He defeated Paul Wykes 5–3, Neal Foulds 5–2, Steve Davis 5–3, Nigel Bond 5–4, Alan McManus 5–3 and Peter Ebdon 6–1, before John Higgins 9–5 in the final. During the final, Hunter trailed 2-4 but won seven frames from the next eight to win the match. Following the event, he reached the semi-finals of the 1998 UK Championship. At the end of the year, he was named the Snooker Writers Association's "young player of the year".
Hunter's first qualified to play in the World Snooker Championship in 1999, where he lost 8–10 in the first round to the winner Stephen Hendry. He ended the season 12th in the 1999-2000 world rankings resulting in automatic qualification into the final stages of ranking tournaments for the first time.
He reached the quarter-final six events the following season. He was a runner-up at the 2001 Welsh Open, a semi-finalist at the British Open and Scottish Open, and a quarter-finalist at the Grand Prix and China Open.
At the 2001 Masters, Hunter beat Matthew Stevens 6–5 in the first round, Peter Ebdon 6–3 in the quarter-finals and Stephen Hendry 6–4 in the semi-finals. In the final Hunter met Fergal O'Brien. He was behind 3–7, but won seven out of the next nine frames to win 10–9. After winning , Hunter commented that he and his girlfriend had sex between sessions when losing 2-6 and had caused him to play better.
At the following year's event, he also won. He beat Stephen Lee 6–3 in the first round, Peter Ebdon 6–5 in the quarter-finals and Alan McManus 6–5 in the semi-finals where he met Mark Williams in the final. Hunter lost all of the first five frames, but won the match 10–9. Hunter was only the third player to retain the Masters along with Cliff Thorburn and Stephen Hendry. Hunter also won his second ranking event, winning the 2002 Welsh Open, beating Ken Doherty 9–2 in the final, but was defeated 9–10 in the first round of the 2002 World Championship by Quinten Hann. Later in 2002, Hunter won his third ranking event, the British Open defeating Ian McCulloch 9–4 in the final. As defending Masters champion, Hunter reached the semi-finals of the 2003 event, but lost 3–6 to Mark Williams.
In the 2003 World Snooker Championship, he defeated Allister Carter 10–5, Matthew Stevens 13–6 and Peter Ebdon 13–12 to reach the semi-finals. In his best-of-33-frames semi-final, Hunter established a 15–9 lead over Ken Doherty, however he only could win one of the next nine frames, and lost the match 16–17. The match was later shown as a "Crucible classic" on the BBC during the original dates for the 2020 World Snooker Championship when the event was delayed. Despite the loss, he earned a place in the world's top eight in the 2003-2004 world rankings for the first time in his career, having been ranked number nine for the previous two seasons.
In 2003–04, Hunter won the 2004 Masters for the third time in four years. Hunter was behind Ronnie O'Sullivan during the match 1–6, 2–7, 6–8 and 7–9 before winning the final three frames to win. He made five century breaks in the match. Hunter also reached the final of the Players Championship, but lost 7–9 against Jimmy White. At the 2004 Premier League Snooker event, he made his career highest break, a 146 in a 3–5 loss to Marco Fu. He reached the second round of the 2004 World Snooker Championship, where he lost 12–13 against Matthew Stevens, despite leading at both 10–6 and 12–10.
Hunter began the 2004–05 season, by reaching the semi-finals of the Grand Prix, where he lost 3–6 to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He then reached the quarter-finals of the 2005 China Open, just days after discovering that he was suffering from cancer. His career-high ranking was number four in the world during the 2004-2005 season, which dropped to number five the following season.
On 6 April 2005, Hunter announced that he was suffering cancer. Hunter returned to snooker for the start of the 2005–06 season, but lost to Rory McLeod in the first round of the Grand Prix. Hunter's next match of the season was at the UK Championship against Jamie Burnett, in which Hunter was 6–8 down but won the match 9–8. Despite this Hunter lost in the next round 2–9 against eventual champion Ding Junhui. He lost in the first round of the 2006 World Championship 5–10 to Neil Robertson, his last ever match.
He slipped from 5th to 34th in the 2006/2007 rankings. Hunter admitted that he was worse than the previous year and confirmed that he had been in continuous pain. On 27 July 2006, the WPBSA confirmed that, following a members' vote, the rules would be changed to allow Hunter to sit out the entire 2006–2007 season with his world ranking frozen at 34. He intended to devote the year to treatment for his cancer.
Hunter died at 8:20 pm on 9 October 2006 – just five days short of his 28th birthday – at the Kirkwood Hospice in Huddersfield. Prior to the Premier League Snooker matches on 12 October 2006, players Jimmy White, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Ken Doherty and Ding Junhui, along with referee Alan Chamberlain and commentators Willie Thorne and Phil Yates, all stood for a moment of silence to remember Hunter. He left a wife, Lindsey, and one daughter. His funeral took place on 19 October 2006 at Leeds Parish Church.
Fellow snooker players Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams, Jimmy White, Matthew Stevens and Ken Doherty led calls for the Masters trophy to be named in Hunter's memory. Instead, then non-ranking German Open in Fürth was renamed the Paul Hunter Classic in his honour; a event first won by Hunter. Also in 2007, the amateur English Open tournament was renamed the Paul Hunter English Open. On 20 April 2016, the Masters trophy was indeed renamed in Hunter's honour. World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn said they had "messed up" by not doing so sooner.
In 2006, Hunter was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award – his widow Lindsey accepted the award on his behalf. A Paul Hunter Foundation was set up after his death with the "specific aim of giving disadvantaged, able bodied and disabled youngsters an opportunity to play snooker". Hunter made 114 competitive century breaks in the course of his professional career, including a high break of 146.
Hunter and Lindsey Fell, a beauty therapist, married in August 2004 in Jamaica. On 26 December 2005, Lindsey gave birth to their first and only child, daughter Evie Rose, who weighed . He was seen as an exciting player and became known as the "Beckham of the Baize" named after football player David Beckham due to his looks. Hunter made comments that his first Masters win was due to having sex between sessions, which he referred to as "plan bonk". After his death, Lindsay wrote Unbreakable: My Life with Paul – a Story of Extraordinary Courage and Love covering Paul's snooker career, life and death.
Lady in the Iron Mask