History Main / OneBookAuthor

* Christophe de Dinechin made the first 3D platform game ever, ''Alpha Waves'', and then [[https://grenouille-bouillie.blogspot.com/2007/10/dawn-of-3d-games.html left the gaming industry]], as recounted on his blog.

* In 1977, Series/SaturdayNightLive ran an "Anybody Can Host" audience contest, the winner of which was a 80-year-old New Orleans grandmother named Miskel Spillman, who hosted the December 17, 1977 episode. This was not just her only hosting appearance (and SNL's only non-entertainer host to date), but her only national television appearance.

* Indie developer Phil Fish founded Polytron Corporation to work full time on his game ''VideoGame/{{Fez}}'', then, after a heated argument, he abandoned the sequel and left the video game industry altogether, ensuring that nothing will be released under the Polytron label again.
** Trapdoor, the company that published ''Fez'', also counts since they only produced in-house a single title, the stealth PuzzlePlatformer ''VideoGame/{{Warp}}'', before folding in 2012. A title only known as "Heist" was in development until they were forced to scrap it and disband.

* Three episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' were animated ([[OffModel poorly]]) by a company called Creator/EncoreCartoons, which appears never to have done anything else.
* Two episodes of ''WesternAnimation/PeterPanAndThePirates'' were animated by a company named Red Apple Group. This show is their only known work. Perhaps it had to do with the [[OffModel quality]] of their animation.

* Otomate Forte, a sister brand to Creator/{{Otomate}} dedicated to "core" games for a female audience (as opposed to Otomate's visual novels) only lasted a little over one year. They only managed to release two games, ''Ore ga Omae wo Mamoru'', a {{Metroidvania}}, and ''Date ni Game Tsui Wake Jane!'', a reskin of ''VideoGame/MasterOfTheMonsterLair''.

* ''VideoGame/TwinGoddesses'' was the only game made by the PolyGram K.K.

* Otomate Forte, a sister brand to Creator/{{Otomate}} dedicated to "core" games for a female audience (as opposed to Otomate's visual novels) only lasted a little over one year. They only managed to release two games, ''Ore ga Omae wo Mamoru'' a {{Metroidvania}}, and ''Date ni Game Tsui Wake Jane!'', a reskin of ''VideoGame/MasterOfTheMonsterLair''.

* 3VR, Inc. was a Californian developer that only lasted one year (1997-98) and in that brief time window apparently only released ''[[https://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/3d-adventures-of-sailor-moon The 3D Adventures of Sailor Moon]]'' for Windows, an abysmal collection of mini-games.

* British company Molitor Productions co-produced ''Literature/{{Redwall}}''. All the company has really done otherwise is documentaries, including one on Saint Catherine's Monastery.

* The one-off distribution company Shining Excalibur Films was created to release ''Film/{{Kids}}'', as Creator/{{Miramax}}, then owned by Creator/{{Disney}}, got wet feet over releasing an NC-17 film.

* ''LightNovel/LookingUpAtTheHalfMoon'''s anime adaptation was the only thing licensed by the short-lived distributor Crimson Star Media.

* ''Anime/HanbunNoTsukiGaNoboruSora'' was the only thing licensed by the short-lived distributor Crimson Star Media.

* Creator/BrianCummings' only on-screen role to date is the announcer on the first season of ''The All-New Series/LetsMakeADeal'' in 1984 (although he also announced the pilot of ''Series/FunHouse''). However, he is a prolific voice actor.

* Yet another game show example: Paola Diva, the original LovelyAssistant on ''{{Series/Concentration}}''. And another still in Marjorie Goodson-Cutt on the 1980s-1990s revival, ''Classic Concentration''. The latter was producer Creator/MarkGoodson's daughter.

* Tailor Made Productions, a production company run by Dan Lautner ([[Creator/TaylorLautner Taylor's]] father). Setting out to make him into an action star thanks to the financial success of [[Literature/{{Twilight}} the Twilight films]], Dan chose to start a series of action movie vehicles for his son, with the first and last film made by the company being 2011's Film/{{Abduction}}, which was both a critical and financial flop.

* Summertime Entertainment's first and last film was ''WesternAnimation/LegendsOfOzDorothysReturn''. [[BoxOfficeBomb Its critical and commercial mauling]] [[CreatorKiller ensured they would never make a second film]].

* ''VideoGame/LANoire'' was the first and last work of Team Bondi, whose TroubledProduction ultimately bankrupted the company.
* Four Leaf Studio, the group of people behind ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'', was created specifically just for this one game and will not be making any other projects. It was a collaborative effort by people from all over the world (many of whom were long gone when the final product was released) and it was 5 years in the making.
* ''VideoGame/MetalArmsGlitchInTheSystem'' was the first and last released game from developer Swingin' Ape Studios. Their next game was to have been ''VideoGame/StarCraft: Ghost''; Blizzard even acquired the studio before disbanding it and canceling the game.

* ''VideoGame/LimboOfTheLost'' was the only game by British developer Majestic Studios, which spent 13 years in DevelopmentHell and ''[[ObviousBeta shows]]'', and was pulled from stores for [[UsefulNotes/{{Plagiarism}} copious stolen assets]]. This is despite TheStinger showing that the [[StillbornFranchise developers intended to make a sequel]] titled ''Limbo of the Lost II: Flight to Freedom''.

* [[Creator/ThreeDRealms Apogee's]] team Developers of Incredible Power who created the original ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheTriad'' in 1994-1995. The team disbanded while working on their second game, ''VideoGame/Prey2006'', which was eventually outsourced to another company.

* Whoopee Camp only developed ''VideoGame/{{Tomba}}'', and its sequel, ''Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return'', before shutting down due to their poor sales.

* Rhythm & Hues is a company specialized in movies and animation that worked on a few games but only ever made one game of their own: ''[[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/eggs-of-steel/ Eggs of Steel]]''.
* Golgoth Studio was a French company with ambitious projects: making HD sequels and remakes of famous arcade games on PC. However, it went pretty badly for them. The only game they actually released was the mediocre and unfinished ''VideoGame/MagicalDrop V'' for Steam; their ''VideoGame/JoeAndMac'' remake never got past character designs and the ''VideoGame/{{Toki}}'' remake was released... [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell 10 years after]] the initial announcements by a third party, when Golgoth already closed up shop.

* Swedish developers Villa Gorilla have made only ''VideoGame/YokusIslandExpress''. Justified in that they're a small studio and developing the game took them 5 years instead of one, as they originally thought.

* OneBookAuthor/{{Actors}}

!!Actors

* ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'':
** Jay Hopper voiced Tenchi's father, grandfather, and the GP Grand Marshal. These are his only anime roles.
** In addition, Mihoshi is the only anime character Ellen Gerstell ever voiced.
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'':
** Sarah Strange was a one-hit-wonder as the title character in ''Ranma One Half''. She did do some other voice roles in other cartoons, and moved on to mainstream live-action work, but that was the only anime she was ever in. She left the show after Season 3 and was replaced with Creator/RichardIanCox, who has had a lot of anime roles.
** Angela Costain also had a short-lived voiceover career, with Nabiki Tendo being her only anime role (or major role, period). Her sister, Elena Wotten-Costain filled in during Season 6, and also never did any other voicework.
* Currently, Kagome from ''Manga/InuYasha: The Final Act'' is Kira Tozer's only anime role. Subverted in 2020, when she reprised the role in ''Anime/YashahimePrincessHalfDemon''.
** Same with Pam Hyatt as Lady Kaede... and her [[TheOtherDarrin replacement]] for ''The Final Act'', Linda Darlow.
* While Liza Balkan has done a lot of work on stage, [[Anime/SailorMoon Sailor Mercury]] (well, [[TheOtherDarrin the second one]]) was her only voice role.
** In addition, Naz Edwards' only voice role is Queen Beryl, but like Liza Balkan, her acting is mostly on the stage. Lots of ''Sailor Moon'' voice actors didn't do other anime, simply because the talent pool used mostly does western animation.
* Rieka Yazawa was the voice of Kon in ''Manga/AndYetTheTownMoves'', followed that up with two other minor roles, and then announced that she was leaving the voice acting business to focus on her studies.
* Mayo Suzukaze has done plenty of work in Japanese theater and television, but has done very little voicework outside of her role as [[Manga/RurouniKenshin Kenshin Himura]].
** Also in ''Rurouni Kenshin'', in the Brazilian dub, the role of Makoto Shishio is the only known work of Paulo Wolf in anime.[[note]]he is also listed on Anime News Network as a minor role on the [[WesternAnimation/MegaMan 1994 Mega Man animated series]], but it's actually a co-production, not exactly an anime.[[/note]] It's hard to find further information about him on internet, as he had a short voice acting career, but it's known that he died in the early 2000s.
* The only thing Kendra Benham did was provide the dubbed voice for [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Maya Ibuki]]. She would later be replaced by Creator/MonicaRial in some future redubbed episodes, along with Amy Seeley for ''The End of Evangelion'' and Creator/CaitlinGlass for the ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' movies.
* The only role Atori Shigematsu had in anime was voicing Piyomon's evolution line in various Franchise/{{Digimon}} media and replacing the late Creator/YukoMizutani as Yuko Yagami in ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri''
* J-Pop queen Music/AyumiHamasaki's only voice acting credit ever was Yuri Sakazaki in the ill-regarded OVA based on ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting''.
* Michelle Fitzgerald's only voice acting role was Black Maiden/[[spoiler:Panther Zora]] in the dubbed version of ''[[Anime/CuteyHoney New Cutie Honey]]''. She's currently a producer for international TV/Film projects.
* Actress Lanelle Markgraf's only anime role was Urd in the ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' OVA series.
* While Yasuko Sawaguchi is primarily a film/television actress and singer, Yūko Ogino from ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' was her only voice-over role.
* Dancer Satoshi Haga had the leading role of Ichise in ''Anime/{{Texhnolyze}}'' and never did anything else of note.
* Drama actor Murasaki Wakaba's only major voice-over role was Akito Sohma in the 2001 anime adaptation of ''Manga/FruitsBasket''.
* Most of the cast of the ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}'' anime's English dub only acted in that production, possibly because most of the cast was comprised of children.
* The Toronto dub of ''Manga/SailorMoon'' was Canadian actor Robert Bockstael's only anime series.
* The [[https://lostmediawiki.com/The_Amazing_3_(partially_lost_English_dub_of_anime_series;_1965) 1965 English dub]] of Creator/OsamuTezuka's ''The Amazing 3''/''Wonder 3'' (known as ''W3'' in Japan) is the only voice acting roles for Bobbie Byers (Bokko/Bonnie), Neil Patrick (Ronnie) , Paul Brown (Zero) , Kurt Nagel (Kenny), and Jerry Burke (the opening narrator). [[https://www.absoluteanime.com/amazing_3/ According to an article on "Absolute Anime"]], Andy Shepherd revealed that the voice actors were college students and local actors from Miami's little theater. Unlike early english dub actors Creator/BillieLouWatt (known as voicing the titular characters [[Anime/AstroBoy Astro Boy]] and [[Anime/KimbaTheWhiteLion Kimba/Leo]]) and Sonia Owens (Kitty/Laiya) who went on to dub other anime between the 1970s and 1980s. With the exception of Bobbie Byers, the English voice cast for "The Amazing 3" never returned to voice acting or did anything else.
* American-Canadian singer-songwriter/actress Stephanie Martin's only anime voice-over role was Izumi Marufuji in the English dub of the ''VisualNovel/{{Interlude}}'' OVA.
* The titular character of ''Anime/SuperMilkChan'' was the only voice role for Haruka Nakamura. Meanwhile, Hanage was voiced by a seiyuu using the pseudonym Brad Pyutt, who's real identity is a mystery.
* With the sole exception of Emlyn Morenelli who also went onto voice Zoey in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl'' and a few other roles? None of the voice actors from the Singaporean or "Odex" dub of ''Manga/OnePiece'' have done anything else.

* ''Film/TheWorldOfHenryOrient'' is Merrie Spaeth's only film role.
* Katharine Cornell was one of the most famous stage actresses of her day, called "the First Lady of the American theater", starring in many major Broadway productions in TheThirties, TheForties, and TheFifties. She made exactly one film appearance, a cameo in the 1943 all-star revue ''Film/StageDoorCanteen'', in which she performs a short excerpt from ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''.
* Fernando Ramos da Silva was a young street urchin who starred in the Brazilian crime classic ''Film/{{Pixote}}'' in 1981. Da Silva, who played the title role, couldn't break out as an actor due to his illiteracy. He later returned to a life of crime before being killed in a shootout with police at the age of 17.
* ''Film/{{Alien}}'': The man inside the alien costume is Bolaji Badejo, a Nigerian art student found by the crew in a bar. He never did anything else and [[http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/07/africa/bolaji-badejo-alien/ simply returned]] to a quiet and normal life in Lagos, running an art gallery and raising a family until passing away from sickle cell anemia complications in 1992.
* Carrie Henn won a Saturn Award for playing Newt in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and retired from acting after being bullied by her schoolmates.
* ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' has roles played by two one-work actors:
** Child actor Peter Ostrum was offered a lucrative multi-picture film deal after playing Charlie Bucket but found film acting to be too much hard work, and took the option to go to college instead and work as a livestock veterinarian in upstate New York, which he is to this day. He only returns to the public eye to do local school assemblies on his life and career, or on rare occasions for Wonka-related events (such as the commentary for the 25th anniversary DVD). Thus, this was his only film role.
** Michael Bollner, who played Augustus Gloop, never acted again after this movie. He was cast because he was a native of Munich, where the movie was shot and where he still lives to this day, and had to be taught his lines phonetically. Like Ostrum, he went to school and became a professional (he runs a tax accounting firm) and has only been seen in ''Willy Wonka''-related material since.
** [[Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory The 2005 adaptation]] of ''Charlie'' (and its video game) is to date, Julia Winter's (Veruca Salt) only acting credit. Much like Peter Ostrum, she elected not to continue acting and is now training to be a doctor.
* Kelly Reno, the star of ''Film/TheBlackStallion'', was set to make a good transition into adult acting when he was badly disfigured in a car accident. By the time he was out of recovery, all his offers had dried up and he never got any others.
* ''Film/{{Paperhouse}}'' was the only major film role of lead actress Charlotte Burke.
* Cassie Barasch, who played evil Thelma in ''Film/LittleSweetheart'', never acted again (which is strange for a lead actor). Her only other credit was as a post-production intern for Creator/SteveBuscemi's film ''Trees Lounge''. Ellie Raab, the other child actress in the film alongside her, fared only a little better before disappearing.
* Charmian Carr's first (and largest) acting role was as Liesl von Trapp in the film adaptation of ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic''. She then starred in the one-time television production of ''Evening Primrose,'' but left the business to raise her children.
* 1981's ''Film/TheLegendOfTheLoneRanger'' proved to be not only a FranchiseKiller, but also destroyed the career of its star, Klinton Spilsbury, who was making his film debut. He hasn't done another film since.
* John Adames won the first UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward for Worst Supporting Actor for the 1980 film ''Film/{{Gloria}}''. It was his only acting credit, and by 2004 he became the owner of a pool hall.
* Although he'd appeared in various commercials (and was the voice of Rolly in the Russian dub of ''101 Dalmatians: the series''), Russian actor Vladimir Garin died in a diving accident after shooting had completed for his first feature film, ''Film/TheReturn2003''
* Maria Falconetti was a theatrical actress who had appeared in supporting roles in two short films, but had no feature-length film credits when cast as the lead in ''Film/ThePassionOfJoanOfArc''. The experience was so traumatic that she quit film work forever, though her performance is widely considered to be one of the greatest of all time.
* Serbian film ''Film/TheWounds'' was Dušan Pekić's first and only film credit. Like the character he plays in the film, he was shot at a young age, most likely due to gang violence, making the film even HarsherInHindsight.
* Milos Milos's only significant film role was as the title character in ''Film/{{Incubus}}'', the Esperanto language horror film starring Creator/WilliamShatner. Shortly after filming the role, he murdered Barbara Ann Thomason - Creator/MickeyRooney's fourth wife - and committed suicide. His only other credit is a bit part in ''The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.''
* Mark Pillow, who played Nuclear Man in ''Film/SupermanIVTheQuestForPeace'' doesn't have any other film credits and only appeared in a few TV series before apparently quitting acting.
* Eric Freeman, the actor who played Ricky, the VillainProtagonist of the [[SoBadItsGood legendary]] ''Film/SilentNightDeadlyNightPart2'', has a few other minor and non-noteworthy credits to his name from around the same time, but this is the one movie where he had a starring role. He disappeared completely after 1992, and no one saw or heard anything about him for over two decades. The most notable thing about his performance was how [[HamAndCheese over the top]] it was, which makes it unfortunate that he's played by a different actor, [[TheOtherDarrin Bill Moseley]], in the third film, who doesn't even come close to copying Freeman's style (primarily since he only has a couple of lines). The filmmakers were unable to even track him down for the 2003 DVDCommentary. Thanks to the hilarity of Freeman's performance, it's been [[WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob the Cinema Snob's]] lifelong ambition to one day find Freeman and pull him out of retirement. He finally made an appearance at a December 2013 screening of ''Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2''.
* The cast of ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix'', with few exceptions, were all made up from either the original Broadway cast or other productions. While most of them had or would go on to do work in film or TV, this is the only time Ralston Hill (Charles Thomson) and Charles Rule (Joseph Hewes) are seen on screen.
* Fhi Fan is a Taiwanese male model whose only acting credit is Shuichi in the LiveActionAdaptation of Creator/JunjiIto's ''Manga/{{Uzumaki}}''.
* LeParkour exponents David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli are best known in the cinema world as the guys who starred in ''Film/District13'' and its sequel. While they had have many other works as choreographers and minor actors, they have never played a starring role again (except Belle, who precisely starred in the ''District 13'''s American remake ''Film/BrickMansions'').
* Toby Radloff's only movie role was in the 1991 Creator/{{Troma}} horror movie ''Killer Nerd'', but he's appeared AsHimself in several forms of media both before and afterward.
* ''Film/PureCountry'' (1992) was the only acting credit ever for CountryMusic singer Music/GeorgeStrait.
* ''Film/{{Gordy}}'' (1995) was the only starring role for CountryMusic singer Doug Stone.
* Hatty Jones' first and only feature film role to date was the titular character in the 1998 adaptation of ''Film/{{Madeline}}'', though she later dabbled into directing and acting in short independent productions.
* Giorgio Cantarini had the part of the protagonist's young son in two major productions and then only did a few bit parts in small-budgeted Italian movies and TV series. But, since these two productions were ''Film/LifeIsBeautiful'' and ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', almost everyone has seen his face.
* ''Film/MadMax2TheRoadWarrior'' was the only major acting credit for both Kjell Nilsson (Lord Humungus) and Emil Minty (the Feral Kid), who only landed a couple of bit parts afterwards. The latter one became a jeweller. Similarly, Max's dog "Dog" never appeared again on the big screen.
* ''Film/TheGate'': Creator/StephenDorff has appeared in several films, but his on-screen partners Christa Denton (who played his older sister) and Louis Tripp (his nerdy metalhead best friend Terry) have this as their first and last major film credit. Denton retired from acting; Tripp returned for the sequel, and that's pretty much it.
* The only acting credit to date for Music/ElvisPresley impersonator Blake Rayne is playing Drexel Hemsley in ''Film/TheIdentical''.
* Maureen Elisabeth Shay's only acting credit is in ''Film/HomeAlone2'', where she [[TheOtherDarrin replaced]] Angela Goethals as Linnie [=McCallister=].
* An extreme example is sign-language expert Barbie Reade; her sole acting credit is a single [[MemeticMutation but memorable]] scene as, yes, a sign-language translator in ''Film/AirplaneIITheSequel''.
* Italian linguistics professor Carlo Battisti appeared in exactly one movie, when he was 70 years old. It happened to be all-time classic ''Film/UmbertoD'', directed by Creator/VittorioDeSica, in which Battisti plays the lead role.
* ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' contestant Colleen Haskell's only feature acting role to date was Rianna in the Creator/RobSchneider comedy ''Film/TheAnimal''.
* Of the four girls forming the band in ''Film/LindaLindaLinda'', Bae Doona went on to be an international film and TV star, Aki Maeda and Yu Kashii became relatively popular in their home country of Japan, but Shiori Sekine has no other [=IMDb=] credits whatsoever. However, she's a bassist in real life too, and still plays with her band to this day.
* John Reynolds had his sole acting credit as Torgo in ''Film/ManosTheHandsOfFate'' and then committed suicide shortly before the film was released.
* ''Film/{{Selena}}'' was Rebecca Lee Mesa's first and only acting role as the 9-year-old version of the title character.
* ''Film/LoveField'' was the only acting role for Stephanie [=McFadden=].
* [[https://jmmnewaov2.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/the-actress-who-never-was-or-the-mysterious-case-of-aya-takanashi/ This blog post]] details how Japanese actress Aya Takanashi only appeared as Tom Selleck's love interest in ''Mr. Baseball''. Her only other acting role was in a two-part direct-to-video Japanese film; then, according to the blog's comments, she retired and became the co-owner of a bar.
* Creator/AndyKaufman only ventured to the big-screen once. The resulting product, the abysmal ''Film/{{Heartbeeps}}'', completely tanked. Combined with the miserable time he had filming it, he never tried films again before his death.
* Subverted with ''Film/TheShining'', which was one of only Danny Lloyd's ventures in acting, his only other movie was a MadeForTVMovie ''Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy'', he later became a teacher.
* Most of the actors in the Japanese psychedelic cult classic ''Film/{{Hausu}}'' only appeared in commercials before (the director also started his career in advertisements) or had no other credits whatsoever, and either had only a few bit parts or never acted again after it. Being amateurs added to the surreal quality of the film.
* Outside of a few guest appearances on television shows and independent films, Tami Erin's only starring role was the titular character in ''[[Literature/PippiLongstocking The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking]]''.
* Carrie Lorraine's only major film role is little Judy in ''Film/{{Dolls}}'', not counting a bit part in ''Film/PoltergeistIITheOtherSide'' before. She's now a lawyer.
* Former child actress Miranda Paige Walls voiced Lilo's rival Mertle Edmonds in ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'',[[note]]plus one of its tie-in games ''VideoGame/LiloAndStitchTroubleInParadise''[[/note]] but decided not to further pursue acting after that, making the Creator/{{Disney}} movie her only role. Creator/LilianaMumy would take over the role of Mertle for the rest of [[Franchise/LiloAndStitch the franchise]].
* Jimmy Workman has Pugsley Addams from ''Film/TheAddamsFamily'' as his only major acting role. He was about to quit acting several times, with only a few bit parts in the meantime, before retiring for good. The role of Pugsley seems to "doom" its performers; see also the Live-Action TV entry for ''The Addams Family'' below.
** Twins Kaitlyn and Kristen Hooper, who played baby Pubert in ''Film/AddamsFamilyValues'', never acted in another film again and only appeared in a single episode of ''Series/HomeImprovement'' afterwards.
* ''Film/{{Mouchette}}'' is Nadine Nortier's only film role.
* This was the case for [[RealLifeRelative sisters Mimi and Meghan Broadhead]], who played Ren [=McCormick=]'s cousins in the 1984 version of ''Film/{{Footloose}}'', reportely due to constant attention and bullying from classmates.
* Pop singer Music/ChristinaGrimmie's only acting role was in the indie rom-com ''The Matchbreaker'', released a few months after her 2016 assassination.
* Actress Georgia Weeks' only role was the Series/WaltDisneyPresents movie ''Ruby Bridges'', wherein she played Jimmy's LargeHam of a racist mother.
* Because the role of Mami in Japanese ''Film/BrandedToKill'' required the actress to be naked for nearly her entire time onscreen, none of the actresses at the studio (Nikkatsu) would do it. So burlesque performer Mariko Ogawa was hired for what turned out to be her only film role.
* Sofia Eng has very few credits on her resume; her only major role is Miss Lippenreader in ''Film/WildWildWest''.
* Joshua Zuehlke only ever played Chuck Murdock in ''Film/AmazingGraceAndChuck''. He was 13 at the time.
* Jan Schweiterman's only major acting role was Kurt Bozwell, the [[BigBad main antagonist]] of the 1997 Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} comedy ''Film/GoodBurger''. He retired shortly after that film's release.
* Creator/TaniaMallet, a model and Creator/HelenMirren's cousin, appeared in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'' as Tilly Masterson. Afterwards, she became dissatisfied with the rigorous schedule and the pay (she said she made more in a day as a model than she did in a week as an actress), so she went back to modelling. Twelve years after ''Goldfinger'', she appeared uncredited in ''Series/TheNewAvengers'' episode "The Midas Touch" as Sara, and that was it.
* Charlie Potter's only acting role is Bruno Jenkins in ''Film/TheWitches1990''. He became a barrister.
* Edward Clements, who has the lead role in Creator/WhitStillman's ''Film/{{Metropolitan}}'' as a Socialist college student who falls in with a group of rich New Yorkers, has only one other film credit, a bit part in ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry''. After that he gave up acting for religion and is currently a pastor.
* Olympic skater Carol Heiss' only starring role was in ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheThreeStooges'', clearly made to capitalise on the success of fellow ice skater Creator/SonjaHenie's film career.
* Thanks to his uncanny resemblance to Creator/JohnTravolta, Giuseppe Spezia was chosen to star in ''[[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123927/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_45 John Travolto... da un insolito destino]]'', an Italian tongue-in-cheek homage to ''Film/SaturdayNightFever'' (also known with other titles such as ''John's Fever'' and ''Travoltomania'') where he plays the part of a Travolta/Tony Manero imitator. Besides a bit part a few years later, that was Spezia's first and only role.
* Almost the whole cast of ''Film/StudentBodies'', including the leads, was composed of unknown actors who never acted again after this film.
* Australian TV actor and politician Ted Hamilton produced and played the Pirate King in ''Film/ThePirateMovie'', his only film role. Hamilton was nominated for the Razzie award for Worst Supporting Actor, and the film did poorly at the box office.
* Brandon Merrill is a model and rodeo champion who only ever played Jackie Chan's Native American wife in ''Film/ShanghaiNoon''.
* Paige Moore's only role is Cindy, an actress who becomes Mike Jittlov's love interest in ''Film/TheWizardOfSpeedAndTime''.
* Madeleine Reynal only played the titular role in ''Film/DrCaligari'' (only vaguely related to the similarly-named [[Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari more famous film]]), not counting a small part in ''Film/SpaceMutiny'' the year before.
* The only acting credit for the late Kevin Alexander Clark was Freddy Jones in ''Film/SchoolOfRock''.
* Jamie Brett Gabel's only acting credit remains the title role of Ben Sheets from the infamous ''Film/BenAndArthur''.
* Shooter Jennings is a popular AlternativeCountry singer, but his only on-camera role to date is playing his father Music/WaylonJennings in ''Film/WalkTheLine''.
* Singer Nina Persson of Music/TheCardigans made her film debut starring in the 2006 Swedish-language drama ''Om Gud vill'' ("God Willing"), but didn't enjoy the job very much and hasn't returned to acting since.
* According to [[https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieDetails/comments/t4zp0l/in_mrs_doubtfire_1993_the_poolside_bartender_is/ this post]], Creator/RobinWilliams' older brother Robert Todd Williams only played a small part in ''Film/MrsDoubtfire'' under a stage name, and then went back to his job as a vintner, without ever acting again.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Most members of ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' are remembered mostly for those (admittedly iconic) roles. But Ken Weatherwax (Pugsley) is the most fitting example of this trope: before the series he only had a small part in one episode of a Western tv series, then he was typecast as Pugsley well into his teens until he quit acting and became a movie grip and studio builder.
* ''Series/TheNewAddamsFamily'': Brody Smith (Pugsley) had a small list of credits, but Nicole Fugere is credited pretty much only for Wednesday on her Website/IMDb bio.
* Most of the cast of ''Series/AlmostLive'' hasn't acted in anything since, especially Darrell Suto (Billy Quan), who was just one of the show's cameramen.
* Dean Wendt's only major acting role was the fourth voice actor of Barney the Dinosaur in ''Series/BarneyAndFriends''. This is mainly because he was a [=DJ=] for Radio/RadioDisney who got roped into the role.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E11FearHer "Fear Her"]] is the only acting credit for Abisola Agbaje, who played CreepyChild Chloe Webber.
* The [[Series/LandOfTheLost1991 1991 version]] of ''Series/LandOfTheLost'' is the only acting credit for Jennifer Drugan, who played daughter Annie Porter.
* ''Series/TheNoddyShop'':
** Unlike [[OnlySoManyCanadianActors how most people on the show constantly re-appeared in other Canadian works]], Albert Rosos, who played Jake in the episode "Following Directions", only appeared in two other TV shows (''Series/KungFuTheLegendContinues'' and ''My Hometown''), as well as the documentary film ''A Day In A Life''.
** Gregory Cross' role as Ed Caruso was one of two recurring TV roles he had (the other being Tugboat in ''The Line'') as well as his only role in a children's work, with his other roles on TV shows being one-shot characters. This is likely because Cross mainly acted on stage.
* Because ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' casts mostly young, up-and-coming actors, there is usually one of these in each series for one reason or another.
** [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Rocky]] [[Series/PowerRangersZeo DeSantos]] was Steve Cardenas' first and last acting role.
** After a few stints as a background extra, Tracy Lynn Cruz finally got her big break on ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'' and then disappeared into obscurity.
** Danny Slavin never acted again after playing Leo in ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'', with the exception of brief ReunionShow appearances in ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'' and ''[[Series/PowerRangersMegaforce Power Rangers Super Megaforce]]''. He only took the role of Leo in the first place to pay for law school.
** Caitlin Murphy, who played Ronny in ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'', also never acted again after playing her character, and since leaving the show, pursued a job as a schoolteacher and is now married.
* In ''Series/TheRatPatrol'' episode "[[Recap/TheRatPatrolS2E21TheFieldOfDeathRaid The Field of Death Raid]]", [[RealLifeRelative real life brothers]] Christopher and Nick George play fictional brothers Sam and David Troy. The episode is Nick George's only acting credit.
* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': Yvonne Hudson appeared as a background extra in a few episodes in 1978 before becoming the show's first black, female cast member in the infamous 1980 season. When all of the 1980 cast members were fired except for Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo, she returned to appearing as a background extra until 1984. SNL is her only acting credit, and no one seems to know what happened to her.
* ''Series/TheTelevisionGhost'' is the only thing its star George Kelting even appeared in.
* Apart from supplying additional voices in ''[[Anime/CowboyBebop Cowboy Bebop: The Movie]]'' and ''Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran'', Lynsey [=McLeod=]'s only major acting credit was in ''Series/SingMeAStoryWithBelle'', later reprising her role as Belle in the live-action segment of ''Belle's Tales of Friendship'' which was made to promote the former series.

* Yoshiki Kurin has only one role in her [[{{Seiyuu}} voice actor]] credits: Yumi Saotome, one of the main heroines of the wildly successful ([[NoExportForYou in Japan]]) DatingSim ''VisualNovel/TokimekiMemorial''. She now works as a fashion designer.
* Kanako Okada, the odd-woman-out of the AllStarCast of ''VideoGame/MitsumeteKnight'' (a SpiritualSuccessor of ''Tokimeki Memorial''), has voiced Hanna Shawski, one of the main heroines of that franchise, and no other role afterwards.
* Many of the Japanese [=VAs=] of the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series (especially, those from the Japanese Disney dubs) have never worked in other works (anime, games and otherwise) besides those games or they only did foreign dubs but not Anime or anything locally created: some of the more egregious examples are Riko Hanamura (Japanese VA for [[WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}} Nala]]) who only does foreign dubs, but not anime or Japanese games. Takashi Aoyagi (WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse), Risa Uchida (Kairi), Iku Nakahara (Namine) and Mayumi Suzuki (WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}) are practicaly typecasted as those characters, and in the case of Ms. Suzuki, she is typecasted as the ''eternal Japanese voice of Disney heroines'', and nothing else.
* Back in TheNineties, Creator/{{Sierra}} was one of the first studios to experiment with adding voice acting to games. As they didn't have the budget for professional actors (nor were games treated as a serious medium at that point), they roped in many of their programmers and staff as pinch-hit voice talent. Some of them were pretty amateurish, but writer/designer Josh Mandel became known as the definite voice for [[VideoGame/KingsQuest King Graham]].
* John Chacon voiced Gabe in the first three ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'' games...and by all accounts, hasn't done anything since. Likewise, Ava Fang only voiced Lian Xing [[ThePeteBest in the first game]] before disappearing for good.
* Lora Cain voiced Trudy, Red Lucy, and a few background characters in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', but did not do any other video games. Bizarrely, her only other credit of note was filling in as announcer on ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' for two weeks in 2011.
* Peter Cormican is only known as the voice of Erazor Djinn in ''[[VideoGame/SonicStorybookSeries Sonic and the Secret Rings]]'' and has done barely any voice acting since, only appearing in some live-action work afterwards.
* The English localization of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' utilized actors whose primary experience is in theatre for the main cast; as such, their performance in the game is often their sole credit (with the exception of a few, including Creator/MichaelERodgers, who had other roles outside of this, but had very little voice roles).
* Alex Williamson's only known acting role is the voice of Sarah in ''VideoGame/AloneInTheDark2008''.
* Tatsuya Tokutake only had one major role in a franchise, as ''VideoGame/TheIdolmasterSideM'''s Kazuki Tsukumo, and some very minor roles afterwards. By the time he retired from voice acting at the end of 2019, Tsukumo remained his only well known role.
* Joe Assante, who voiced lead character Jake Conway in the rather infamous ''VideoGame/RideToHellRetribution''. He apparently has a background in talk radio, but ''Ride To Hell'' is his only known voice acting role.
* Both Peter Farley and Warren Green have the three ''TabletopGame/SherlockHolmesConsultingDetective'' games on their IMDB profile, as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson respectively.
* Alex Dobrenko is an actor and writer whose only voice acting credit is Hoji in ''VideoGame/ShadowWarrior2013''.
* As a voice actor, the only works Rick Hunter is credited for are the ''VideoGame/{{Postal}}'' games[[labelnote:*]] More specifically, ''POSTAL'', ''VideoGame/Postal2'', ''POSTAL 2: Apocalypse Weekend'', ''POSTAL 2: Paradise Lost'', and ''[[UpdatedRerelease POSTAL Redux]]''. Rick did some VO during ''VideoGame/PostalIII'''s TroubledDevelopment, but he tapped out [[CreatorBreakdown due to some personal issues he was going through]] (some of the lines that were recorded ended up being reused for the UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} release of ''Postal 2''). He also recorded some lines for ''VideoGame/Postal4NoRegerts'', but had to tap out again due to scheduling conflicts with his radio job, though he would later return as a voice option for version 1.0.[[/labelnote]], where he voices The Postal Dude. Hunter himself [[ReclusiveArtist prefers to stay anonymous and uncredited]] when it comes to voice-acting.
* Scott Hill's sole acting credit was Johnny Klebitz in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheLostAndDamned'', though he reprised the role of Johnny as a cameo in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV''.
* Ditto with British-American reggae singer Coolie Ranx, whose sole acting credit was Niko Bellic's close friend and accomplice "Little" Jacob Hughes in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' (barring minor appearances in the ''GTA IV'' proper and in ''The Ballad of Gay Tony''), as well as the late reggae singer Seeborn (birth name Terry Marshall) who voiced Jacob's mentor Teafore "Real Badman" Maxwell-Davies.
* Ronnie Shahmoon's only composing credit is for ''Mary Shelley's Frankenstein'' (SNES).
* Tracey Rooney is best known as the original voice of Chie Satonaka from ''VideoGame/Persona4'', but hasn't done any voice work since and was [[TheOtherDarrin Darrin-ed]] by Creator/ErinFitzgerald for Chie's later appearances.
* Paula Angel's only role was Phacia in the English version of ''VideoGame/LunarSilverStarStory''.
* ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder'' is infamously known for its AmateurCast (granted, [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny it was during a time when fully voice-acted games were a new thing]]), largely comprised of untrained staffers around {{Creator/Sierra}}. The odd exception to this is Art Lewicki, whose sole voice actor credit is being that of the game's narrator, which is strange considering he wasn't a Sierra employee.
* Rob Wiethoff had a few bit parts in some movies and commercials before Rockstar picked him to voice and do the motion capture for John Marston in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption''. His performance was extremely well received and he was even nominated for a few awards, but he stepped out of the business to focus on raising his family, and his only role since was to reprise Marston in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2''.
* Kody Robinson's only known credit was as Roo in ''[[Franchise/WinnieThePooh Ready for Math with Pooh]]''.
* ''VideoGame/ThePinkPantherPassportToPeril'' and ''VideoGame/ThePinkPantherHokusPokusPink''. Except for Creator/MichaelSinterniklaas, Jerry Lobozzo and a couple other names, none of the New York voice actors have any notable credits.

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'' remains the only acting credit for everyone on the show, as they were mainly animators or crew members.
[[/folder]]

* Thom Huge voiced Jon Arbuckle in all animated adaptations of ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' from ''Garfield on the Town'' (the second animated special) onward through the end of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'', where he also voiced Binky the Clown, Bobby Buddy Bear, [[ComicStrip/USAcres Roy the rooster, Gort,]] and various background characters. To this day, those are his ''only'' credits in any medium, likely because Huge was an associate of ''Garfield'' creator Jim Davis's.
* Dee Dee from ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' is the only voice role for Allison Moore, who was a college friend of series creator, Genndy Tartakovsky. She only voiced the character in the first season, but briefly came back several seasons later when her replacement Kathryn Cressida (who has done some other voice work) was unavailable.
* Several actors from ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' have never done other acting, due to actually being people working behind the scenes who got roped into voice-acting, as opposed to professional voice-actors. For instance, Tracy Grandstaff, who voiced the main character on ''Daria'' as well as on ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'', was a writer for various MTV programs.
* Michael Wallis' only voice acting role (or acting credit of any kind for that matter) is as the Sheriff of Radiator Springs in ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', its sequel and other spinoff media. Wallis is a renowned journalist and historian who was cast for the role because of his [[CastTheExpert expertise on the film's primary settings]]: The American Southwest and Route 66, which he has written several books about.
* Aside from a handful of brief cameos on a couple television shows, Sarah Vowell's only acting role is as Violet in Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' and its sequel ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2''. Like Wallis, she's better known as a writer and essayist (most famous for her appearances on ''Radio/ThisAmericanLife'') instead of a professional actress.
* Stage actor Larry Roberts' only feature film role was as the voice of the Tramp in Creator/WaltDisney's ''WesternAnimation/LadyAndTheTramp''. Shortly after the film's release in 1955, he retired from show business altogether and became a fashion designer.
* Disney's ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'' is the only voice acting roles for former child actors Gary Dublin, Liz "Louise" English, and Dean Clark. After the film's release, late actor Gary Dublin (Toulouse) didn't have that much work in film and television, he did make some live-action appearances such as a reporter in an episode of ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce'', and an ill-fated teenager in ''Film/Jaws2''. Meanwhile Liz English (Marie) became a regular on ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'' between 1978-1986 and one of the original members of Hill's Angels. Nowadays [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vslmlKSR9Kc she's more active in plays, theaterical shows, and nationally-touring musical-theatre productions in the UK]]. Her most recent apperance on television was in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZvOO4CNkII UK commerical for "Key Advice Release"]] from 2018 as one of the characters. Occasionally she would sign autographs featuring Marie such as animations cells from the film and various Marie merchandise. However, ''The Aristocats'' is the only acting role for [[ReclusiveArtist Dean Clark]] (Berlioz), who hasn't reappeared in anything since then.
* Jim Jordan was a famous vaudeville actor who had done a few short films in the 1940s as his stage character [[Radio/FibberMcGeeAndMolly Fibber McGee]], but his sole feature film credit was as the voice of Orville the albatross in Disney's 1977 film ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers''. Like Roberts he retired after the film was released, though in his case due to old age rather than a change in profession.
* Most of the voice actors on ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'' haven't done any acting/voice acting since the show ended, save for a few cameos in other shows or minor voice acting roles (June's voice actress, Julia [=McIlvaine=] was in a few episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Mad}}''). Some of the few voice actors still doing work after the show are Creator/DanielleJudovits, who voiced Loopy, and Music/AshleyTisdale (Credited as "Ashley Michelle"), [[RetroactiveRecognition who voiced Jetcat]].
* Mary Gibbs' only VA role was the voice of Boo AKA [[TheDanza Mary]] in the 2001 Creator/{{Pixar}} film ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' before retreating from show business in favor of a normal childhood. [[note]]Fun Fact: Mary Gibbs is the [[RealLifeRelative daughter]] of ''Monsters, Inc.'' animator Rob Gibbs.[[/note]]
* Similar to the case of Daria, some of the actors behind ''WesternAnimation/{{Superjail}}'' were friends of the staff or the staff members themselves. Most notably, Teddy Cohn (voice of Jared) was hired due to being a friend of Stephen Warbrick, and otherwise had never done voice acting before. David Wain, Dana Snyder, and Chris [=McCulloch=], however, are more known outside of the show for their other roles in animation and acting. Christy Karacas and Stephen Warbrick have never acted outside of the series, and Sally Donovan (voice of most female characters) was an otherwise obscure actress who had voiced in MTV interstitials and shorts before being cast. Alice's [[TheOtherMarty initial voice actress]] was even an old college acquaintance of Karacas' who was roped in to do the role, until the Adult Swim executives ordered the role recast.
* Minty Lewis' only voice-acting role for a full series has been Eileen on ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow''. [[DescendedCreator She's one of the show's staff]]--originally a storyboard editor, then a full storyboard artist--and her one other voice role was for her own pilot, ''Bottom's Butte''. However, she did have a major role as Kez in Book 4 of ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain''.
* MGM Animation's 2000 FunnyAnimal-based adaptation of ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer'', titled just ''Tom Sawyer'', cast several CountryMusic singers in their only voice-acting roles to date: Rhett Akins, Music/MarkWills, Music/LeeAnnWomack, Alecia Elliott, Music/HankWilliamsJr, Music/WaylonJennings, and Marty Stuart.
* Late actor Creator/SamuelEWright, best known as the voice of [[WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}} Sebastian the crab]] has very few other credits on his Website/IMDb profile, like Kron from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaur}}'' or Dizzy Gillespie in Creator/ClintEastwood's ''[[Music/CharlieParker Bird]]''.
-->'''Samuel E. Wright''': I'm ''not'' a voiceover actor. I do Sebastian because Sebastian is a part of me. But I can't sit there and do a voice for you. I can't just come up with like Jiminy Cricket, or something. So, I don't think in terms of them hiring me again for another thing, because my voice is so iconically Sebastian now.
* Nicky Jones' only noteworthy voice-acting role was the title character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}'' (aside from the pilot for ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', where he voices that series' title character).
* The only thing Johnny Hardwick has really done was the voice for Dale Gribble in ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', and hasn't done anything after the show ended in 2010. He was mainly the show's co-writer, story editor, and episode producer. He, however, has a [=YouTube=] channel wherein he has uploaded comical videos with himself (including several where he does his Dale Gribble voice).
* Harriet Owen's only major acting role was Jane in the Disney theatrical sequel ''WesternAnimation/ReturnToNeverLand''. She then left acting to become a teacher of Religious Education at the Royal Grammar School in Guildford, Surrey.
* Tyler Mullen has only two known credits: Mowgli in the VHS scenes of ''WesternAnimation/JungleCubs'', and an unknown character in the Creator/{{Pixar}} compilation "Tiny Toy Stories".
* Matthew Herried's only acting role was the voice of Pudge the Penguin in ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance''.
* Daniel Studi [[note]]son of the legendary Wes Studi[[/note]]'s only major acting role to date--fiesty Lakota native Little Creek in Creator/DreamWorks' ''WesternAnimation/SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron''.
* Outside of a few commercials as a child, Christopher Stephen Welch's only acting role was voicing Tails on ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog''. He retired from acting at the age of 13 and now works as a sales representative for a food distributor in Vancouver, and later got confused with Christopher Evan Welch when ''he'' died.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' has a largely AmateurCast, several of which haven't done any other voice work:
** Music/{{Estelle}}, apart from a fictionalized version of herself in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'', has only voiced Garnet. She works primarily as a singer and, while not really a "mainstream star", has a cult following that included members of the show's production crew (specifically its composers), which is partially how she get the role in the first place.
** Creator/JoelHodgson, the voice of Mayor Bill Dewey, has had no other voice roles. He works primarily as a comedian, an actor in several live-action productions, and is best known as the creator and original host of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''.
** Kathy Fisher voiced Fluorite and only Fluorite, and mainly works as a singer-songwriter.
** Storyboard artist Lamar Abrams voiced Buck Dewey, as well as several other minor roles throughout the show, and that's all he's done as an actor.
** Tom Scharpling hasn't done that much in the realms of voice acting (or acting in general) beyond some bit roles here and there such as [[NamedAfterSomeoneFamous Willie]] [[WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce Nelson]] with Greg Universe being his biggest role. He primarily does stand-up comedy, writing, producing and hosts his own radio show.
* Animation director Adrien Beard's only notable acting role is voicing Token Black on ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''.
* Susanne Pollatschek's only credit was as Olivia in ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective''. After completing her studies in Scotland, she moved to Switzerland.
* Andy Berman's sole voice credits are as the voice of Dib Membrane and several minor characters from ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim''. While he has voiced Dib in other media appearances such as the ''VideoGame/NicktoonsUnite'' series and the TV movie ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus'', he's never done anything not ''Zim''-related.
* There's a variant of this trope where a well-known celebrity plays a voice role in a show or movie, and it remains the only animated work they've ever starred in. Some examples of this are a good amount of guest voices on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' [[note]] though in some cases, like Creator/LukePerry, they will land a second role in a Creator/{{Disney}}-related project[[/note]], Creator/RobertDowneyJr playing The Fat Guy Strangler on ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Music/BillyJoel playing Dodger in ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'', Music/IceCube providing the voice for The Candlemaker in ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'' and Music/CelineDion providing the NonSingingVoice for Juliana in ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot''.
** Speaking of ''The Simpsons'' guest stars, there's a very interesting case with Creator/JudyBlume's guest spot in "D'oh Canada": not only is it her only role in an animated work to date, but it's her only role as a character actor, as her other acting credit, a film adaptation of her book ''Literature/TigerEyes'', was a CreatorCameo.
* In many works that have [[ChildrenVoicingChildren child voice actors]], they will only be cast for the work they are a part of. One famous example would be the cast of the ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' specials, who were all kids with little to no acting experience, though occasionally professional child actors were hired, like [[Music/{{Fergie}} Stacey Ferguson]] playing Sally in the 80's. In the modern day, there are still cases where child actors only provide voice work on one animated show, but those are few and far between and now only done with Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} programming like ''WesternAnimation/BubbleGuppies'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse''. Nowadays, it's more common to have the same set of child voice actors being used for different shows, like how many of the child characters in ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'' share voice actors with those on ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood''.
* ''WesternAnimation/LibertysKids''; Reo Jones played British subject-turned patriot Sarah Phillips for the entire duration of the series, but has virtually no other voice acting credits to her name.
* Adriana Caselotti's only major role was playing Snow White in ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''. She had a few cameos like in ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' as Juliet in the song "If I Only Had A Heart" and ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'' as a singer in Martini's Bar, but then she retired and only appeared in a few talk shows before her death. This is because she was under contract by Disney, she wasn't permitted to act in any other film or make public appearances to preserve the illusion of Snow White as a real character.
* Not only was ''WesternAnimation/{{Undergrads}}'' the only show created by Pete Williams, it was also the only show he acted in, having voiced the four main characters. This is also the case with Jene Yeo, as Jesse remains her only acting credit.
* ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'':
** This show provides Deann Degruijter's only acting role as a major character (Mayor Goodway), as her only other roles were all minor characters, not counting a recurring role in ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Franklin}} Franklin and Friends]]''.
** This show is the only animated work Hiromi Okuyama, the voice of Farmer Yumi, has worked on, as she more frequently appears in short films.
** Owen Mason's only major role on a TV show was Ryder in Season 1.
** It's also the only TV role of Luxton Handspiker, the voice of Rex. Like Hiromi Okuyama, he mostly does short films.
** Haruka Sugita, the voice of Everest in the Japanese dub, has done no other TV roles, instead starring in video games and TV ads.
** Liberty's TV series voice actress, Tymika Tafari, has no other voice-acting roles.
* Most of the voice cast of ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'', especially Nancy Hendry (the voice of Amberely), barely did anything else afterwards.
* Holly Larocque's only voice role was Leota on ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTeddyRuxpin''.
* Yuko Takeuchi's only voice-acting role in an animated work was Joy in the Japanese dub of ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut''.
* A majority of the ChildrenVoicingChildren in Creator/NickJr's AnimatedAdaptation of ''Toys/{{Lalaloopsy}}'' were based out of Calgary, Alberta and had barely voice acted (or acted in general) before and/or after the show. The show is notable for being one of the few Western cartoons to be casted by Blue Water Studios (Creator/TheOceanGroup's budget sister studio).
* Tawny Kitaen's only voice-acting credit was Annabelle on ''WesternAnimation/EekTheCat''.
* Ned Beatty's only voice-acting roles were Lotso Huggin' Bear in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' and the mayor in ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}''.
* Thea White only played Muriel in ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' and several works related to that franchise.
* Creator/WardPerry's only WesternAnimation role was Brad Wright/Soar Loser in ''WesternAnimation/SkysurferStrikeForce''. Even then, he was a staff member at a certain anime-dubbing studio in UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}} and not a proper actor. [[ReclusiveArtist It's unknown what happened to him after his career unceremoniously ended somewhere in the late 2000s.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/FudencioESeusAmigos'', all of the cast features then-workers of the Brazilian MTV (which was discontinued in 2013 and was where the series aired). Most of them were animators, writers or producers whose only other voice roles are in different MTV Brazil cartoons. There was only one professional voice actor, who mostly did narrations for commercials in the network, though he eventually left the series. The main character Conrado also was [[TheOtherDarrin temporarily]] voiced by CelebrityVoiceActor Felipe Solari, a VJ who was also an actor, though this was his only voice role.
* Canadian opera singer Janis Orenstein only had a few screen roles in the early 1960s, the most famous of which being the voice of Clarice in ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer1964''. The rest of her career was spent performing opera before her death of cancer at the age of 62 in 2010.
* Sarah Heinke's only major acting role was voicing the titular character in WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake. She then left show business behind and became a hairdresser.
* Steven Rattazzi's only major voice work role is Dr. Byron Orpheus on ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros''.
* Sydney Patrick's only acting role was being the American voice of ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig''.

!!Hosts and announcers

* ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' has many examples:
** Host-hostess tandem Pat Sajak and Vanna White, who took over from Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford in 1981 and 1982, respectively, originally met this trope: Pat was a former DJ and weatherman (although he hosted at least one unsold {{pilot}} before ''Wheel''), and Vanna's only other TV "role" was as a contestant on ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' in 1980. However, their fame in these capacities led to other roles that now make them aversions.
** Former San Diego Chargers place kicker Rolf Benirschke hosted the daytime version from January 10 to June 30, 1989. This was his only TV role.
** The only TV role for Cynthia Washington (ex-wife of San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Gene Washington) was filling in for an injured Stafford for just over a week.
** Tricia Gist (now-wife of ''Wheel'' creator Creator/MervGriffin's son Tony) filled in for Vanna for a few weeks in 1991, thus giving Gist ''her'' only TV role to date.
* Again contingent on whether or not "contestant" counts as a role, the only on-camera role for Mike Reilly was hosting the short-lived 1990 game show adaptation of ''Series/{{Monopoly}}''. Series creator Creator/MervGriffin chose Reilly after he was a ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' contestant.
* Yet another game show example: Paola Diva, the original LovelyAssistant on ''{{Series/Concentration}}''. And another still in Marjorie Goodson-Cutt on the 1980s-1990s revival, ''Classic Concentration''. The latter was producer Creator/MarkGoodson's daughter.
* Many people have been prolific in other fields, but only hosted a game show once (well, games that made it to air, anyway). Among them are:
** Kevin O'Connell (a weatherman whose only hosting gig was ''Series/{{Go}}'', as well as the ''Keynotes'' and ''Money in the Blank'' pilots)
** Henry Polic II (aka Jerry Silver on ''Series/{{Webster}}''; only hosting gig was ''Double Talk'', plus the ''Eye Q'' pilot). Polic also had his only gig as an [[TheAnnouncer announcer]] when he filled in for Johnny Gilbert on a few episodes of ''The $100,000 Series/{{Pyramid}}'' during John Davidson's tenure as host.
** Chuck Henry (an LA news anchor whose only hosting gig was the 1989 revival of ''Series/NowYouSeeIt'', although he previously hosted an unsold pilot for ''Beat the Odds'' in 1975)
** Laurie Faso (a voice actor and occasional live-action actor as well; only hosting gig was ''Series/ImTelling'')
** Nick Clooney (Creator/GeorgeClooney's father) (a long career as a broadcaster; only hosting gig was ''The Money Maze'')
** Patrick Wayne (Creator/JohnWayne's son) (several roles as an actor; only hosting gig was the 1990 revival of ''Series/TicTacDough'', and [[ReplacementScrappy possibly for good reasons]])
* ''Series/WinLoseOrDraw'':
** The versions between 1987 and 1992 had a combined four hosts: Bert Convy (1987-89, syndication), Robb Weller (1989-90, syndication), Vicki Lawrence (Creator/{{NBC}}), and Marc Price (''Teen Win, Lose or Draw'' on Creator/DisneyChannel, 1989-92). Among these four people, Convy is the only one of the four to have helmed any other game shows (most notably, ''Series/{{Tattletales}}'' and ''Super Series/{{Password}}''). Lawrence was best known for her roles on ''Series/TheCarolBurnettShow'' and ''Series/MamasFamily'' and was a panelist on several other game shows, but ''Win, Lose or Draw'' remains her only ''hosting'' gig to date (she also hosted two pilots for Mark Goodson and ABC called ''Body Talk'' in 1990). Weller's only other major role was a short gig as host on ''Series/EntertainmentTonight'' (he hosted the 1986 pilot of ''Series/{{Blackout}}'', the failed 1990 pilot of ''Series/SplitSecond1972'' and the 1993 pilot of ''Hollywood Teasers'', a revision of ''Series/AllStarBlitz''), and Price's only other notable role was Irwin "Skippy" Handelman on ''Series/FamilyTies''.
** The Creator/DisneyChannel version, ''Teen Win, Lose or Draw'', had a few different Mouseketeers from ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' announce, none of whom did any other announcing work (or in the case of Brandy Brown, much of anything at all). The exception was Mark L. Walberg, who was ''not'' a Mouseketeer, and who had experience in both announcing and hosting game shows for many years afterward (and, since 2006, of ''Series/AntiquesRoadshow'').
* "Gorgeous George" Davidson, the {{Subverted|Trope}} LovelyAssistant on Creator/{{GSN}}'s ''Series/WinTuition'', has no other credits.
* The only television role for Tony Pigg is as TheAnnouncer of ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'', a role he has held since the show began in 1983 as ''The Morning Show''.
* Deejay Mark Driscoll announced the first few weeks of the 1989 revival of ''Series/NowYouSeeIt'' before being replaced with Don Morrow. To date, Driscoll has not done any other television work.
* The game show ''Series/TheCrossWits'' has two examples. The 1975-80 version was the only television role for LovelyAssistant Jerri Fiala; one week of episodes had her serve as a celebrity partner, while Kitty Hilton (then-wife of game show announcer Bob Hilton) got ''her'' only TV role taking Jerri's usual spot. The 1986 revival was also the only television role for announcer Michelle Roth.
* UK financial journalist Louise Noel's only TV hosting role was the stocks-and-shares game ''Show Me the Money''.
* Kirk Fogg has no other television roles of note besides hosting the kids' game show ''Series/LegendsOfTheHiddenTemple''.
* The only game show credit for Creator/PhilHartman was as the announcer of ''The Pop 'N Rocker Game'' in 1983. Hartman supposedly auditioned for ''Series/LetsMakeADeal'' and ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' as well, but didn't make the cut for either.
* Creator/BrianCummings' only on-screen role to date is the announcer on the first season of ''The All-New Series/LetsMakeADeal'' in 1984 (although he also announced the pilot of ''Series/FunHouse''). However, he is a prolific voice actor.
* The only on-camera role to date for voice actor Creator/BobBergen is ''Jep!'', a short-lived children's spin-off of ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' which aired in 1997.
* The [[ForeignRemake Russian adaptation]] of ''Series/OneVersusAHundred'', ''Odin protiv vseh'' on TV Centr, is the only TV hosting credit for Alexander Nuzhdin, who is mostly known as a DJ and a radio personality.

!!Studios and Companies

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Enigma Entertainment, the Spanish company which dubbed ''Manga/XxxHolic'' in what is considered one of the best anime dubs in Spain, literally disappeared after doing just one more work with ''Anime/UltimateMuscle''. Almost none of its voice actors have had a role in dubbing again, and even their whereabouts are currently unknown.
* ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'' is the only work by the artist collective Headgear, although Headgear's individual members have done various succesful works before and after ''Patlabor''.
* ''Anime/HanbunNoTsukiGaNoboruSora'' was the only thing licensed by the short-lived distributor Crimson Star Media.

[[folder:Film]]
* Prana Films, a German studio, produced only one film, the 1922 horror classic ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}''. The studio was forced into bankruptcy after being ordered to pay copyright damages to the estate of Creator/BramStoker.
* Tailor Made Productions, a production company run by Dan Lautner ([[Creator/TaylorLautner Taylor's]] father). Setting out to make him into an action star thanks to the financial success of [[Literature/{{Twilight}} the Twilight films]], Dan chose to start a series of action movie vehicles for his son, with the first and last film made by the company being 2011's Film/{{Abduction}}, which was both a critical and financial flop.
* Kroyer Films did animations for several films of other studios as well as the video game ''VideoGame/PitfallTheMayanAdventure'', along with producing the short film ''Technological Threat'', but only made one feature-length film of their own, ''WesternAnimation/FernGullyTheLastRainforest''.
* A company called Elastic Productions made only one movie before going belly up: the DirectToVideo film ''WesternAnimation/BandsOnTheRun'', which sold very poorly and was eviscerated by critics.
* The obscure 1995 film ''Goldilocks and the Three Bears'' appears to be the only sort of statement made by Twin Dolphin Filmed Entertainment.
* The one-off distribution company Shining Excalibur Films was created to release ''Film/{{Kids}}'', as Creator/{{Miramax}}, then owned by Creator/{{Disney}}, got wet feet over releasing an NC-17 film.
* Summertime Entertainment's first and last film was ''WesternAnimation/LegendsOfOzDorothysReturn''. [[BoxOfficeBomb Its critical and commercial mauling]] [[CreatorKiller ensured they would never make a second film]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Luscious Spirit Studios was an all-women yuri indie group with plans for comics, short stories and more all around the central theme of romance between women. Sadly, after a successful Kickstarter of a compilation of short stories, the two writers left the group for reasons unexplained, taking their written works with them. The final member disappeared into the ether after that, leaving behind a pair of unfinished comics and a planned visual novel that will never see the light of day.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theme Parks]]
* The Hurler roller coasters at Carowinds and formerly at Kings Dominion were built by a company named International Coasters, Inc., which built nothing else.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/LANoire'' was the first and last work of Team Bondi, whose TroubledProduction ultimately bankrupted the company.
* Four Leaf Studio, the group of people behind ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'', was created specifically just for this one game and will not be making any other projects. It was a collaborative effort by people from all over the world (many of whom were long gone when the final product was released) and it was 5 years in the making.
* ''VideoGame/MetalArmsGlitchInTheSystem'' was the first and last released game from developer Swingin' Ape Studios. Their next game was to have been ''VideoGame/StarCraft: Ghost''; Blizzard even acquired the studio before disbanding it and canceling the game.
* The Creator/ElectronicArts-published combat driving game ''Auto Destruct'' was the only title developed by Neurostone.
* Studio Archcraft developed the 2009 UsefulNotes/NintendoDS RPG ''VideoGame/BlackSigil: Blade of the Exiled'', and quietly disappeared afterward.
** Members of that team resurfaced to make the SRPG ''VideoGame/FellSealArbitersMark,'' which includes a playable cameo from Black Sigil's hero, Kairu.
* ''VideoGame/LimboOfTheLost'' was the only game by British developer Majestic Studios, which spent 13 years in DevelopmentHell and ''[[ObviousBeta shows]]'', and was pulled from stores for [[UsefulNotes/{{Plagiarism}} copious stolen assets]]. This is despite TheStinger showing that the [[StillbornFranchise developers intended to make a sequel]] titled ''Limbo of the Lost II: Flight to Freedom''.
* The only game developed by the [[Creator/SquareEnix Squaresoft]] subsidiary Escape was ''Driving Emotion Type-S''.
* Digital Tome only made one game, ''VideoGame/SiegeOfAvalon'', before disbanding.
* Amiga run 'n' gun ''Ruff 'n' Tumble'' is the only game ever developed by Wunderkind.
* Amiga platformer ''VideoGame/YoJoeBeatTheGhosts'' is the only game ever developed by Scipio.
* [[RuleOfThree Amiga beat 'em up]] ''Motörhead'', based on [[Music/{{Motorhead}} the eponymous group]], is the only game ever developed by Kaitsu Software.
* [[Creator/ThreeDRealms Apogee's]] team Developers of Incredible Power who created the original ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheTriad'' in 1994-1995. The team disbanded while working on their second game, ''VideoGame/Prey2006'', which was eventually outsourced to another company.
* Amstar Electronics (''Phoenix'', 1980)
* 38 Studios (created by baseball star Curt Schilling) only released one game, ''VideoGame/KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning'', before going down in a blaze of loan default to the state of Rhode Island.
* Dark Energy Digital only managed to create two games before going bust: ''VideoGame/{{Hydrophobia}}'' and the UpdatedRerelease ''Hydrophobia Prophecy''.
* JAM Productions (''VideoGame/BlakeStone: Aliens of Gold'', 1993).
* Creator/{{Nintendo}} subsidiary Project Sora only made one game: ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'', which was quite popular and a KillerApp for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS. Afterwards, they were absorbed back into their parent company, Sora Ltd.
* Rock-Ola (''Nibbler'', 1981)
* Crack Dot Com (''VideoGame/{{Abuse}}'', 1996)
* ''Parker Brothers'' (yes, [[TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}} THAT]] Parker Brothers) made plenty different games, which were usually good, but the only video game they made that was not an arcade/Computer port or a licensed game was ''Montezuma's Revenge''.
* ''VideoGame/SecretOfEvermore'' was the only game developed by Square USA.
* ''VideoGame/SteelReign'' was the only game by Chantemar Creations. Shortly after its release, most of the company's staff joined ''VideoGame/{{Everquest}}'' developer Verant Interactive.
* Bit Blot (''VideoGame/{{Aquaria}}'', 2007)
* Recoil Games's only release was ''VideoGame/{{Rochard}}'' (2011), [[AcclaimedFlop a critical success but a financial failure]]. They began development on a sequel, but [[{{Vaporware}} never finished it due to lack of funding]], and eventually [[CreatorKiller folded completely]].
* Sanctuary Software (''Backlash'', 1994)
* Clockwork Tortoise, Inc. (''The Adventures of Batman & Robin'' for Genesis and Sega CD, 1995)
* Gaslamp Games might count since, outside ''VideoGame/DungeonsOfDredmor'' and all its re-releases and DLC, they only released the unfinished ''Clockwork Empires''. After two years on Steam's Early Access, the game was sold in late 2016 at full price but in an incomplete, broken and messy state. Then the devs went silent since December 2016 and the company more or less imploded (see also: CreatorKiller).
* Neorex (''Cosmic Race'', 1995)
* Whoopee Camp only developed ''VideoGame/{{Tomba}}'', and its sequel, ''Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return'', before shutting down due to their poor sales.
* Rebel Act Studios (''VideoGame/SeveranceBladeOfDarkness'', 2001)
* [=SuperBot=] Entertainment (formerly known as Broodwork, Inc.) was an American studio founded by Sony in 2009 to make exclusive games for their consoles. They made ''VideoGame/PlayStationAllStarsBattleRoyale'' in 2012 and, despite the positive critical reception, Sony cut ties with them since they felt the game's sales were "inadequate". They tried to pitch other projects, but couldn't find a publisher, so they had to disband in 2013.
* Topheavy Studios's only release was ''The Guy Game'', an FMV quiz game where the player's goal is to answer enough questions in order to make a bunch of drunken, unaware young women in bikinis strip fully naked. While already infamous at the time for taking advantage of intoxicated, random women on Spring Break, the game itself would end up being banned from North America retail because one of the girls stripping naked was only 17-years-old. This, combined with the game's poor sales (being released around the same time as ''VideoGame/Doom3'' didn't help), caused Topheavy Studios to close its doors.
* Ultra Ultra, a studio started by former Creator/IOInteractive employees, were only able to release ''VideoGame/{{ECHO}}'' before shutting down a year later.
* Looking Glass Software, who are unrelated to the more famous Creator/LookingGlassStudios, have only one game to their name, ''Creative Contraptions'', released in 1985 for PC/MS-DOS, Apple II, and Commodore 64.
* Häus Teknikka produced ''Frantic Flea'' for SNES, and nothing else.
* ''ComicBook/ChakanTheForeverMan'' is the only game that Extended Play Productions ever developed. That said, some of its staff members went to Western Technologies Inc. (the company behind the first ''X-Men'' game for Sega Genesis).
* Recreational Brainware only helmed one game in its lifetime: The first ''[[VideoGame/TazManiaSega Taz-Mania]]'' game for Sega Genesis.
* [=LaserDisc=] arcade game ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cube_Quest Cube Quest]]'' (1983) was the only game developed by Simutrek.
* The original Japanese version of ''VideoGame/AdventuresOfDinoRiki'', titled ''Shin Jinrui: The New Type'', is the only game credited to Rix Soft. They were the software development branch of Ricoh Elemex Corporation, that makes precision manufacturing technology, but never made another game.
* Smoking Car Productions, the company formed by ''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'' creator Jordan Mechner to develop ''VideoGame/TheLastExpress'', shut its doors after that game's commercial failure.
* Rhythm & Hues is a company specialized in movies and animation that worked on a few games but only ever made one game of their own: ''[[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/eggs-of-steel/ Eggs of Steel]]''.
* Golgoth Studio was a French company with ambitious projects: making HD sequels and remakes of famous arcade games on PC. However, it went pretty badly for them. The only game they actually released was the mediocre and unfinished ''VideoGame/MagicalDrop V'' for Steam; their ''VideoGame/JoeAndMac'' remake never got past character designs and the ''VideoGame/{{Toki}}'' remake was released... [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell 10 years after]] the initial announcements by a third party, when Golgoth already closed up shop.
* Nintendo second-party developer Param only developed only one game, ''VideoGame/DoshinTheGiant'' for the ill-fated Nintendo 64DD, and went defunct in 2003. The modest success of the Nintendo [=GameCube=] port in 2002 wasn't enough to save the company.
* ''VideoGame/SpyroEnterTheDragonfly'' was the only game developed by Check Six Studios. The game's critical and commercial failure ensured they wouldn't make another game.
* ''VideoGame/{{Frogger}}: The Great Quest'' is the only game credited to Papa Yeti Studio.
* ''VideoGame/DrMario 64'' is the only game developed by Newcom.
* Mathilda is a game company that was created primarily by special effects wizard Screaming Mad George to make the Japan-only ''[=ParanoiaScape=]''.
* ''VideoGame/AMBERJourneysBeyond'' was the only game by Hue Forest Entertainment.
* The MMORPG ''VideoGame/WildStar'' was the only game developed by Carbine Studios, who closed down shortly before the game went offline.
* Typhoon Studios' only game was ''VideoGame/JourneyToTheSavagePlanet''. They were shut down a year after the game's release.
* Swedish developers Villa Gorilla have made only ''VideoGame/YokusIslandExpress''. Justified in that they're a small studio and developing the game took them 5 years instead of one, as they originally thought.
* ''VideoGame/TheLabyrinthOfTime'' was the only game made by Terra Nova Development.
* Besides two CD-ROM multimedia divination programs (!), Japanese developer Rodik, Inc. only made one game, the bizarre adventure ''[[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/cookies-bustle-japanese-video-game-obscurity/ Cookie's Bustle]]'', then they turned into a research company before closing down in the early 2000s.
* ''[[https://www.arcade-history.com/?n=birdiy&page=detail&id=31466 Birdiy]]'' (sic) was the only game by Japanese developer Mama Top. With its extremely repetitive gameplay and heaps of FakeDifficulty, it was a huge flop in arcades, so the other two games they were supposed to release never materialized.
* 3VR, Inc. was a Californian developer that only lasted one year (1997-98) and in that brief time window apparently only released ''[[https://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/3d-adventures-of-sailor-moon The 3D Adventures of Sailor Moon]]'' for Windows, an abysmal collection of mini-games.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia'' was the only game developed by Project [=MelFes=].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Despite having a debut to feature animation that most studios could only dream of (a box office hit and one of the few non-Disney/Pixar films to win the [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestAnimatedFeature Oscar for Best Animated Picture]]), ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}'' remains Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic's only foray into making their own movies. Creator/{{Disney}}'s acquisition of parent company Creator/{{Lucasfilm}} pretty much ended plans for more animated films by the special FX studio.
* Three episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' were animated ([[OffModel poorly]]) by a company called Creator/EncoreCartoons, which appears never to have done anything else.
* Two episodes of ''WesternAnimation/PeterPanAndThePirates'' were animated by a company named Red Apple Group. This show is their only known work. Perhaps it had to do with the [[OffModel quality]] of their animation.
* British company Molitor Productions co-produced ''Literature/{{Redwall}}''. All the company has really done otherwise is documentaries, including one on Saint Catherine's Monastery.
* Children's Television Trust International, a joint-venture comprising an AllStarCast of European, Australasian, African, Asian & American broadcasters, produced the series ''WesternAnimation/AnimatedTalesOfTheWorld'' and did nothing else afterwards.
* The 4th season of ''WesternAnimation/{{Cyberchase}}'' was co-produced by a company named Flying Minds, which appears to have done nothing else.
[[/folder]]

!!Authors of non-fiction
[[folder:Philosophy]]
* Edmund Gettier was a philosopher looking for tenure at Wayne State University. To help with this he was encouraged to publish any ideas he had. He published a 3-page paper called ''Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?'' which completely changed epistemology (the study of knowledge) by showing that apparently, no it wasn't, contrary to everything since Plato. He never touched epistemology again, and in fact has published nothing else.
* ''Literature/PhilosophyAndScienceFiction'': The editor, Michael Phillips, is a professor emeritus of philosophy at Portland State University, and is not to be mistaken for the Christian Mystery/Romance author or the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Phillips several other]] authors by the same name. This Michael Phillips has only published this one anthology.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mathematics]]
* While Bernhard Riemann published many papers, he only published [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Number_of_Primes_Less_Than_a_Given_Magnitude one single paper]] on number theory. It is considered one of the most important and influential papers ever published on that field.
[[/folder]]

!!Fictional Examples

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''[[ComicBook/TheGoldenAge JSA: The Golden Age]]'', Jonathan Law (Tarantula) had only one book to his name that he wrote and published, ''Behind The Mask'', after which he was unable to come up with anything else. Libby Lawrence's mentioning him being a "one-book, one-hit wonder" ended up being what broke up their relationship with each other. During the battle with Dynaman near the end of the story, Tarantula dies thinking that this battle would have made for a great book to write.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/ThrowMommaFromTheTrain'': Larry's wife Margret seems to be milking the hell out of the one book she's credited with writing, ''Hot Fire'', with adaptations galore. However, she'll likely remain a one-book author because she stole it -- and she might become a ''no'' book author if and when she's caught.
* The premise of ''Film/FindingForrester'' involves [[Creator/SeanConnery Forrester]] being a One Book Author. [[spoiler: In the end, [[SubvertedTrope he writes a second book]].]]
* Ditto for the plot of ''Wonder Boys.''
* The end of the film ''Croupier'' has the protagonist, a novelist and casino dealer, having completed and published his RomanAClef, realize that it is probably better for him to quit while he's ahead and not write another novel.
* ''Stone Reader'' is a documentary following a dedicated reader who tracks down an obscure but brilliant One Book Author and helps get his book republished.
* The plot for the indie movie ''The Kiss'' is even more restrictive: The protagonist finds the author's one book in manuscript form without an ending. She seeks him out to persuade him to ''become'' a One Book Author.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In the ''Literature/TeenageWorrier'' series, Letty's father is the author of a widely acclaimed novel called "Moving On", but since his daughter's birth it has taken him almost sixteen years to finish his next work (and, it is implied, he probably never will.)
* The ''Literature/TeenageWorrier'' example is similar to the father in ''Literature/ICaptureTheCastle'', but at the end, we learn the father in that book has begun creating another work.
* Sharyn [=McCrumb's=] ''Literature/BimbosOfTheDeathSun'': the author of the titular book apparently has no interest in writing another as he makes more money as a scientist.
* Toni L.P. Kelner's series ''Where Are They Now?'' follows journalist Tilda Harper, who specializes in hunting down former stars - most of whom only ever did one real work (or at most minor guest star roles) and then left the business. The very first book, ''Curse of the Kissing Cousins'', involves her work in tracking down the cast of an in-universe series, ''Kissing Cousins''; at least three of the actors fall under this trope, including one who left the business to run a motorcycle shop until he died in an accident, one who tried to continue her career but eventually gave up and went into real estate, and Mercy Ashford, who was cast in a single film role after the show ended but left the set after about a week's work one day and disappeared. [[spoiler:It turns out she was attacked and beaten by an abusive ex-boyfriend with connections and an IfICantHaveYou attitude, and afterward went into hiding because she knew he wouldn't give up on her; even after his arrest, she chooses to stay out of the public eye.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': One possible future for Jake Sisko has him write ''Anslem'' as his sole novel. (He also writes an anthology of short stories, though that is his only other literary work). In fact, the way we find out about this is exactly as given in the example at top.
* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': An author whose only work (that he hates to talk about) was a landmark success befriends Martin. Niles and Frasier discover a manuscript for his planned second novel. When the author catches them reading it, he asks for their opinion. However, while praising it, they unintentionally make him realise he ripped off Dante's ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' and throws the manuscript into the fire.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/FableI'', there's a weapon called ''The Dollmaker's Mace'' which is apparently the only time they ever made a weapon. It's a pretty damn good one too, with high speed and a satisfying damage rating.
* Larry Butz of ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' apparently achieved some success as "[[PenName Laurice Deauxnim]]" with his picture book, ''Franzy's Whippity-Whip Trip''. But it seems that's ''all'' he's released, even after the 8-year TimeSkip between the original trilogy and the rest of the series.
[[/folder]]

* Stephen Dorff's first film acting credit was in the Canadian horror film ''Film/TheGate'', and he went on to became a famous actor. On the other hand, his on-screen partners Christa Denton (who played his older sister) and Louis Tripp (his nerdy metalhead best friend Terry) have this as their first and last major film credit. Denton retired from acting; Tripp reprised Terry's role in the film's sequel, and that's pretty much it.

* Tyler Mullen has only two known credits: Mowgli in the VHS scenes of ''WesternAnimation/JungleCubs'', and an unknown character in the Creator/{{Pixar}} compilation "Tiny Toy Stories". He isn't even on the Website/{{IMDb}}.

* Not only was ''WesternAnimation/{{Undergrads}}'' the only show created by Pete Williams, it was also the only show he acted in, having voiced the four main characters. This is also the case with Jene Yeo, as Jesse remains hwr only acting credit.

* Harrison Chad's only major voice acting roles was Boots the Monkey from 2000 till 2007,[[SweetSheep Cardigan the Lamb]] from [[WesternAnimation/CharlottesWeb Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure]] released on home video in 2003, and [[WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}} Young Tarzan]] in ''Tarzan II''. After Season 4 of ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' wrapped up in 2007, he retired from voice acting after hitting puberty.
* Radio/RushLimbaugh's only acting role on TV in his career was a recurring role AsHimself in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.

* Minty Lewis' only voice-acting role for a full series has been Eileen on ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow''. [[DescendedCreator She's one of the show's staff]]--originally a storyboard editor, then a full storyboard artist--and her one other voice role was for her own pilot, ''Bottom's Butte''.

* As a voice actor, the only works Rick Hunter is credited for are the ''VideoGame/{{Postal}}'' games[[labelnote:*]] More specifically, ''POSTAL'', ''VideoGame/Postal2'', ''POSTAL 2: Apocalypse Weekend'', ''POSTAL 2: Paradise Lost'', and ''[[UpdatedRerelease POSTAL Redux]]''. Rick did some VO during ''VideoGame/PostalIII'''s TroubledDevelopment, but he tapped out [[CreatorBreakdown due to some personal issues he was going through]] (some of the lines that were recorded ended up being reused for the UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} release of ''Postal 2''). He also recorded some lines for ''VideoGame/Postal4NoRegerts'', but had to tap out again due to scheduling conflicts with his radio job.[[/labelnote]], where he voices The Postal Dude. Hunter himself [[ReclusiveArtist prefers to stay anonymous and uncredited]] when it comes to voice-acting.

* Disney's ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'' is the only voice acting roles for child actors Gary Dublin, Liz "Louise" English, and Dean Clark. After the film's release, late actor Gary Dublin (Toulouse) didn't have that much work in film and television, he did make some live-action appearances such as a reporter in an episode of ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce'', and an ill-fated teenager in ''Film/Jaws2''. Meanwhile Liz English (Marie) became a regular on ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'' between 1978-1986 and one of the original members of Hill's Angels. Nowadays [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vslmlKSR9Kc she's more active in plays, theaterical shows, and nationally-touring musical-theatre productions in the UK]]. Her most recent apperance on television was in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZvOO4CNkII UK commerical for "Key Advice Release"]] from 2018 as one of the characters. Occasionally she would sign autographs featuring Marie such as animations cells from the film and various Marie merchandise. However, ''The Aristocats'' is the only acting role for [[ReclusiveArtist Dean Clark]] (Berlioz), who hasn't reappeared in anything since then.