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F. Gary Gray in a very short time has established himself as one of Hollywood's most successful directors. Still in his thirties, Gray has reached the pinnacle of films, television, and music videos, having directed some of the most acclaimed, award-winning performances of our time. With each new project, he continues to showcase his intensity and passion for film. Gray's dynamic visuals and storytelling talent have made him one of the most unique and sought-after directors in film today.

Gray most recently directed the box office smash hit The Italian Job.

Prior to The Italian Job, Gray directed the action-drama A Man Apart starring Vin Diesel. Gray's The Negotiator, starring Kevin Spacey and Samuel L. Jackson, went on to win the Best Film and Best Director awards at the Acapulco Film Festival, and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Action/Adventure/Thriller. He received widespread critical praise for his second feature, Set It Off, starring Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah and Vivica A. Fox. His debut feature was the hit comedy Friday, starring Ice Cube and Chris Tucker.

On television, Gray executive produced and directed the pilot episode of Fox Television's critically acclaimed show Ryan Caulfield: Year One which debuted in May 1999. Before beginning his film career, Gray worked as a freelance cameraman. He segued from his work as a cameraman to directing the short film Divided We Fall, borrowing expensive professional equipment from friends and associates.

Gray eventually became a pioneer and award-winning director in music video, bringing rap culture to mainstream awareness. He went on to direct videos for such recording artists as Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige and TLC, and helped to provide mainstream exposure for such artists as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Coolio.

At the 1995 MTV Music Video Awards, Gray was a multiple winner, receiving four awards for TLC's Waterfalls, including Video of the Year, and the Best Rap Video Award for Dr. Dre's Keep Their Heads Ringin'. Also in 1995, Gray earned the Billboard Music Video Award for Best Rap Video and Best New Artist Rap Video. Gray's video of Ice Cube's It Was a Good Day was included in Rolling Stone magazine's Top 100 Best Videos of All Time. He was also nominated for a Grammy for directing Stevie Wonder and Babyface's How Come, How Long. To date, Gray has received 16 awards and 23 nominations for his direction of various music videos, including an Image Award from the NAACP for Waterfalls. Gray also directed the music videos Turn Back the Hand of Time for R. Kelly and Ms. Jackson for hip-hop group OutKast.

This past year, Gray received The Ivan Dixon Award of Achievement from the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center and was named one of the 50 Best and Brightest African Americans under 40 from Black Enterprise Magazine. This year, Gray was honored by the African American Film Critics Association with their 2004 Special Achievement Award as well as being recognized by the Artist Empowerment Coalition with the Artist Empowerment Award of 2004. He was recently nominated as Best Director at the Film Life Movie Awards at the eighth annual American Black Film Festival.