WWW- Celebrities are paid to be comfortable in front of the camera. But some of them are taking that comfort level to an extreme.

Celebrity sex tapes seem to be breaking out as filmdom’s fastest-growing genre. Colin Farrell became the latest Hollywood denizen to enter the steamy world of sex-tape scandals when he slapped Playmate – and ex-paramour – Nicole Narain with a lawsuit last week. Farrell was trying to stop her from distributing a video in which the pair had, er, starred.

Farrell’s worries may be needless, though, should the tape become public. In many cases, a scandal like this can actually boost a career. We took a peek at other celebs who traveled the sex-scandal path and, for the most part, found that naughty films attributed to them provided more satisfaction than disappointment.

Career Enhancement

BOTTOM LINE:

# Usher: Helped quash rumors of the sculpted R&B star’s sexual orientation.

# Pam Anderson & Tommy Lee: The blond bombshell and her tattooed Motley Crue drummer became household names when the video was jacked from their pad.

# Paris Hilton: “One Night in Paris” translated into a few years in overexposure for the leggy heiress.

# Jenna Lewis: What reality star doesn’t want to stay in the public eye after her 15 minutes of fame have ended?

NO HARM DONE

BOTTOM LINE:

# Pam Anderson & Bret Michaels: Leaking sexy romps was old news for Anderson by the time the video with the Poison singer went public.

# Gena Lee Nolin: The former “Baywatch” babe was brought back to the limelight for a hot second.

# Eve: It’s no surprise she was a stripper before landing a career as a music artist.

# Fred Durst: After announcing to the world he “did it all for the nookie,” a little thing like a sex tape hardly dented his reputation.

# Chyna: Who says well-built pro-wrestlers don’t have what it takes to bare it all and then some?

CAREER BUSTER

BOTTOM LINE:

# R. Kelly: The most distasteful celebrity video of all time paired Kelly with an allegedly underage girl and an over-the-top act of indecency.

# Rob Lowe: It took years for Lowe to recover from the stigma of romping with an underaged Atlanta teen.