Most Hollywood types would consider their porn past something to be kept carefully under wraps. Not so Barry Sonnenfeld. The director of hits like "Men In Black" and "Get Shorty" actually acknowledges his time as cameraman on a series of skin flicks as a worthy learning period for the hard slog of Hollywood blockbustery.

But the 47-year-old really came into his own after meeting Joel Coen, who along with his brother Ethan, asked Sonnenfeld to be director of photography on their debut movie in 1984. The distinctive look of "Blood Simple"got the short, smart, and quick-witted New Yorker noticed by Tinseltown's bigshots, which led to him photographing successful movies like "Big", and (for director Rob Reiner) "When Harry Met Sally" and "Misery". He also continued his fruitful partnership with the Coens on the knockabout farce "Raising Arizona", as well as returning to noir in 1990's "Miller's Crossing".

He finally got his shot at directing in 1991 with the big-screen version of "The Addams Family", starring Angelica Huston and Raul Julia. Sonnenfeld's offbeat sensibility turned what could have been a cheesy mainstream adaptation into a slyly comic, always weird hit - his visual touches evident when it came to basking Morticia's pasty face in a continual glow.

After directing the equally successful sequel, Sonnenfeld got hip, turning Elmore Leonard's cult novel "Get Shorty" into Hollywood gold dust. But he really cemented his place on the A-list with "Men In Black". This effects-strewn comedy extravaganza made megabucks and revealed a previously untapped comedic side to the dour Tommy Lee Jones. A sequel is in the works.

Happily married to wife Susan since 1989, Sonnenfeld recently avoided death after a private jet he was riding in crash-landed in California. But that hasn't hindered his appetite for making movies. After the blip that was "Wild Wild West", Sonnenfeld is currently developing "Big Trouble" starring Tim Allen and, more bizarrely, "Chippendales", a biopic about the muscle-bound hunks.

Obviously, he just can't get the thought of shooting naked flesh out of his system.