Paul Hubschmid grew up in Aarau and in Schönenwerd in the Canton of Solothurn. In 1937, he finished high school in Aarau and started to attend drama school at Max-Reinhardt-Seminar in Vienna.

Hubschmid made his stage debut at Vienna's Deutsches Volkstheater and worked at Theater in der Josefstadt until 1948. He also made guest performances at Deutsches Theater Berlin.

From 1948 to 1953, Hubschmid worked in Hollywood and starred in several films. From 1961 on, he focused on performances in musicals. Until 1974, he played the role of professor Higgins in Lerner/Loewe's production of "My Fair Lady" over 2000 times. He also completed several tours, for instance, with a production of Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca".

Hubschmid made his movie debut in 1938 in the Swiss film "Füsilier Wipf". In 1944, he starred alongside Hilde Krahl in Hans Schweikart's "Das Gesetz der Liebe" ("Law of Love"). In Hollywood, Hubschmid starred under the name Paul Christian, for instance, alongside Maureen O'Hara in "Bagdad", and alongside Maria Montez in "Il ladro di Venezia".

After his return from Hollywood in 1953, Hubschmid played the virile gentleman in West Germany alongside the female movie stars of the time: with Marika Rökk in "Maske in Blau"("Mask in Blue"), alongside Gertrud Kückelmann in "Musik bei Nacht" ("Music by Night"), alongside Liselotte Pulver in "Schule im Eheglück" ("School for Connubial Bliss"), and with co-star Sonja Ziemann in "Mit 17 beginnt das Leben" ("Life Begins at 17").

Hubschmid played leading roles in Helmut Käutner's "Die Zürcher Verlobung" ("The Affairs of Julie") and alongside Romy Schneider in Alfred Weidenman's "Scampolo". In Fritz Lang's "Das indische Grabmal" ("The Indian Tomb") und "Der Tiger von Eschnapur" ("Tiger of Bengal"), he eventually played the conquering architect Harald Berger. Hubschmid also appeared in international productions, for instance, in the German-French co-production "Die Unmoralischen/Le grain de sable" ("The Circular Triangle") and in the British film "Funeral in Berlin".

On TV, Hubschmid was seen, for instance, in Rolf von Sydow's three-part crime film "Wie ein Blitz", based on a radio play by Francis Durbridge In 1980, he received the Filmband in Gold, an honorary award for his continued outstanding individual contributions to the German film over the years.