Who

Barry Sonnenfeld is best known for directing big-budget popcorn films like Get Shorty and Men in Black.

Backstory

After graduating from NYU, Sonnenfeld began his career in the illustrious world of porn. His skin flick claim to fame: He shot nine adult films in nine days. In 1984, Sonnenfeld's career as a more legitimate cinematographer took off with Joel and Ethan Coen's Blood Simple, which led to lens work on blockbusters like Big, Throw Momma from the Train, When Harry Met Sally, and Raising Arizona. In 1991, Sonnenfeld moved into the director's chair with the film adaptation of The Addams Family—and he's been a leading Hollywood director (even though he remains in New York) ever since. In 1995 he was praised for the wry caper Get Shorty, starring John Travolta, Gene Hackman, and Danny DeVito, and went on to score commercial home-runs with Will Smith-fronted summer blockbusters Men in Black, Wild Wild West, and 2002's Men in Black II. It hasn't all been candy and roses, though. His 2006 film RV was a giant flop at the box office. "A fine example of what happens when talented people settle for utter mediocrity," wrote one critic.

Of note

Sonnenfeld continues to direct films. But he's also worn the producer's hat a few times lately, exec-producing 2004's Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events as well as that year's The Ladykillers, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. More recently he produced 2007's Enchanted, starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, and Susan Sarandon. He also spends some of his free time dabbling as a writer. In 2004 Esquire editor David Granger recruited Sonnenfeld to write a monthly column called "The Digital Man," in which the director tests out ridiculously extravagant products he's able to afford, thanks to those fat Hollywood paychecks.

Close call

Sonnenfeld cheated death in 1999, when a private jet he was riding in California veered off the runway, crashed into three other planes and caught fire.

Personal

Sonnenfeld married Susan Ringo in 1989; she's since served as a consultant or associate producer on a number of Sonnenfeld's films. They have one daughter, Chloe Sonnenfeld, who made appearances in Men in Black, Big Trouble, and RV.

Habitat

In recent years, Sonnenfeld has sold his homes in North Haven (for $2.15 million) and Amagansett (for $8.87 million), but he's not exactly homeless. He still has an East Hampton estate, an apartment in Manhattan, and a ski house in Telluride. A notable fan of urinals, Sonnenfeld has a total of five of them in his various homes. (They're Kohler, of course, and cost $1,200 apiece.) He's something of a bathroom fetishist, in fact: His Hamptons master bath contains a flat-screen TV, two telephones and an in-wall Tucks medicated pad dispenser.