One of a generation of film directors who crossed over from the world of music videos, F. Gary Gray proved himself to be among the most inventive, creative and commercially successful of the crop. His feature film directorial debut, "Friday" (1995), was made for $3 million and grossed 10 times that much, with audiences applauding the collection of vignettes chronicling the life of Ice Cube during a day in South Central Los Angeles. But Gray really solidified his status as a filmmaker to be reckoned with the release of "Set It Off" (1996), which starred Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett in the
