I was watching a fun show on VH-1 about one-hit wonders and I started thinking about how some actors are one-hit wonders too. A one-hit wonder is defined as an artist known for only one hit song. I’d like to believe that the actor version of the one-hit wonder is a person who may have a really wonderful “break” and then never be able to follow that up with another “hit.” How many times have you seen an amazing performance from an up-and-coming (or “new”) actor and then never heard about that actor again? How many times have you caught an old movie rerunning on TV and thought, “Hey, what has that guy done recently?” only to hit IMDb and find no significant credits in over a decade? One-hit wonders aren’t just musicians anymore.

As I watched The 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders, I noticed three distinct trends in the stories of how these one-hit wonders came to be. Musical artists who failed to show up with a follow-up hit seemed to have stolen material, overindulged on success, or had no real talent. Let me take each of those concepts into the world of the actor.

Stolen Material

Many of the one-hit wonders profiled on this show had to spend most of the profits earned on their hits paying fines and legal fees for having put unauthorized samples or hooks of other musicians’ work into their own. Vanilla Ice most famously tops the list of artists who pilfered from the legends who had succeeded before (Queen, David Bowie). There’s also Sugar Hill Gang, whose “Rapper’s Delight” royalties are paid to Chic for the “borrowed” bassline from “Good Times.” And if you’ve seen the Nike commercial that uses “Bittersweet Symphony” as its jingle, you can thank the Rolling Stones for that (not The Verve, who released that catchy hit), as Keith Richards and Mick Jagger own the publishing rights due to the use of a reversed looped sample from “The Last Time.”

Actors who “sample” material may do so by using another’s jokes at an open mic night or perhaps they lie on a resumé, basically “stealing” a role for themselves on paper, figuring it can’t hurt anyone. The problem is, when you’re caught using someone else’s work (whether it’s on the stage or on paper), every bit of talent you bring to the party is called into question. A director said to me just the other day during callbacks, “I know this actor is lying about this,” as he pointed to an item on her resumé. “And if he’s lying about one thing, who’s to say that anything on this resumé is the truth?” Regardless of that actor’s talent, he already had a strike against him, because he “sampled” someone else’s credits and put them on his own “record.” Sure, you may never have to pay out royalties or give credit BACK to the person who wrote the joke you worked into your one-person show. But if you’re getting a reputation as someone who will lie, cheat, and steal in order to get a shot at a career as a working actor, isn’t that bad enough to make you rethink that choice? Of course we want you to WANT it. But that’s different than coming off like someone who may rob us blind, should we choose to invite you onto our set someday.

Overindulgence

Many creative geniuses live an overindulgent lifestyle. Even before they have a first “hit,” they may drink too much, dabble in drugs, do everything they can to see and be seen, stay out far too late the night before a big audition, or otherwise jeopardize their chances at success in the misguided pursuit of fame and fortune. People who know that the better goal is a career as a working artist are less likely to fall prey to the allure of chemicals and the party life. Still, it can be tempting, when everyone else is buying you a congratulatory beverage (or much, much more) in celebration of your first big break.

Artists are, by nature, known to gravitate toward addictive behavior. Something about the creative process, the emotional commitment required, the lack of financial security, the rush of “what if,” and the exhilaration of putting on a good show all seem to contribute to a performer’s interest in “escaping” whenever possible. Imagine that you haven’t just booked a small role in a SAG Low Budget film, but instead a series regular gig on the hottest new fall sitcom. There’s buzz aplenty and your agent, manager, and (new) publicist are all spinning the hype to make sure you know not only how great you are but how they believed in you from the very beginning! You’re suddenly on every guestlist at every club and there’s never an empty glass. Sure, to someone who has always dreamed of the “celebrity life,” this may sound like a very high-quality problem, as problems go. But when you consider how much your head swells when you get a standing ovation in acting class and then multiply that emotion by ten zillion units or so, you may come close to understanding how the “rock-n-roll lifestyle” could spin out of control pretty quickly for an actor on the rise.

No Real Talent

One-hit wonders who never release a decent second single (or whose sophomore efforts are lackluster and boring) suffer from the all-too-common syndrome of No Real Talent. Simply put, they have the juice for one really great splash, but there’s no craft to back up that first effort with a decent second act. An actor in this scenario may be cast in a “star-making” role because the character is SO much like the actor in real life, but when given the opportunity to do another project, that actor can’t bring the talent, versatility, or chops to do the WORK required to sustain a career.

There is a saying that applies here: Success is when preparedness meets opportunity. An actor who isn’t prepared when the big break comes along may enjoy a fleeting bit of fame, but without the ability to really do the hard work that comes with the day-to-day pursuit of a lifetime of acting, that’ll be over as soon as the hangover from the wrap party wears off.

Other One-Hit Wonders

Certainly, there are one-hit wonders who go on to live normal, average, standard lives away from the entertainment industry and experience loads of happiness. There are also plenty of actors out there who had a taste of success and then chose another road for any number of reasons. But if you know you want to be more than a one-hit wonder, lay the groundwork now to make career longevity more likely. Don’t lie on your resumé, keep your ego in check, and train constantly. Or… you could always enjoy the whole “Where are they now?” thing when your VH-1 special airs.

So… how are YOU prepping yourself for a career that “has legs”? Let’s hear it! 😀

Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!

Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/000430.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.