Paolo Pellegrin was born in 1964 in Rome. He studied architecture at L'Università la Sapienza, Rome, Italy before studying photography at l'istituto Italiano di Fotografia, in Rome.

Between 1991 and 2001 Pellegrin was represented by Agence VU in Paris. In 2001 he became a Magnum Photos nominee and a full member in 2005. He was a contract photographer for Newsweek for ten years.

Pellegrin is winner of many awards, including ten World Press Photo awards and numerous Photographer of the Year awards, a Leica Medal of Excellence, an Olivier Rebbot Award, the Hansel-Meith Preis, and the Robert Capa Gold Medal Award. In 2006, he was assigned the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography. He lives in London.

His books include: 100 Photos of Paolo Pellegrin for Press Freedom (Reporters Sans Frontières, France, 2013); Paolo Pellegrin (Kunstfoyer der Versicherungskammer Bayern 2012); Dies Irae (Contrasto, Italy, 2011); Photo Poche (Actes Sud, France, 2010); As I Was Dying (Actes Sud, France, 2007); Double Blind (Trolley, 2007); Kosovo 1999-2000: The Flight of Reason (Trolley, USA, 2002); L'au delà est là (Le Point du Jour, France, 2001); Cambogia (Federico Motta Editore, Italy, 1998) and Bambini (Sinnos, Italy, 1997)