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Paul Fusco was born in Leominster, Massachusetts in 1930 and started pursuing photography as a hobby at the age of fifteen. During the Korean War from 1951 to 1953 he gained more experience while he worked as a photographer for the United States Army Signal Corps. After the war he studied photojournalism at Ohio University, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1957. From there, he moved to New York City to work professionally as a photographer.

Fusco first worked for Look. He became an associate of Magnum Photos in 1973 and a full member a year later. Over the years, Fusco also contributed to such publications as Life, Mother Jones, the New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Psychology Today, and Time. His photography often documented social issues and injustices, such as poverty, ghetto life, and cultural experimentation across America. He also worked internationally covering events in Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. In the late 1990s he spent two months documenting the health problems in Belarus. He alleges without evidence, that this relates to the Chernobyl incident.

Fusco moved to Mill Valley, California in the 1970s but is now based in New York City. Many of his photographs are in the Magnum Photos archive currently held at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin