Born in Richmond, Virginia, Paul made his professional stage debut at nine years old as the lead in Gian Carlo Menotti's opera Amahl and the Night Visitors. He studied Shakespeare and acting in London and later at Florida State University, and at the University of South Florida where he graduated with superior academic achievement from the College of Fine Arts in 1993. He spent two seasons acting with the famed regional Equity (AEA) theatre group, American Stage in their Shakespeare in the Park performances of Much Ado About Nothing and The Merry Wives of Windsor. He made his first feature film appearance in Citizen Verdict (2003) starring with Armand Assante and Roy Scheider. While visiting his brother Patrick Wilson on the set of Angels in America (2003), director Mike Nichols thought it would be "fun" for Paul to appear with his brother. On working with Mike Nichols Paul said," It was a master class in acting, directing and filmmaking in one week with him." Paul is president and CEO of Lonesome Pine Pictures with several projects in development. He also manages his media and marketing company, Wilson Media, which he founded in 2000. With his brothers in their band The Wilson Van, featuring middle brother Mark Wilson on lead guitar with youngest brother Patrick Wilson on drums, Paul is the lead singer. The Wilson Van only performs for charity and in only 10 concerts, the brothers' band has raised more than $250,000 for Florida-based charities. Paul is also 20-year featured vocalist with Florida orchestras performing Frank Sinatra hits and big band standards. He appeared opposite Jenna Elfman with his brother, Patrick Wilson who, along with Ashley Judd, and Whoopi Goldberg, starred in Adriana Trigiani's motion picture Big Stone Gap (2014) in 2015. The movie was Trigiani's big screen adaptation of her eponymous NY Times best-selling novel. Big Stone Gap (2014) was shot entirely in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, where Paul and Patrick's father, John Wilson was born and raised. Patrick and Paul Wilson stayed in their father's childhood home during production on Wilson Road. In 2021, Paul appeared again on screen opposite his brother Patrick in the third installment of James Wan's Conjuring series as the beleaguered father Carl Glatzel in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) and will portray President Richard M. Nixon in Showtime's TV series The First Lady (2022).