Ephemeral Actor

It's 7 AM, and I'm watching Whit Stillman's Metropolitan, and I was curious who played some role. After checking out with IMDB, I think it's Edward Clements, but even if it isn't, Edward Clements is interesting because he's only ever had two roles, the one in Metropolitan, and a smallish role in Star Trek 6.

And that's it. It's not perhaps nearly as bizarre as Chris Tucker's career, who, despite a flashy (read, annoying) role in The Fifth Element has really only had three roles in the last 6 years, namely, the three Rush Hour movies. You'd think Chris Tucker, a guy you probably have heard of, would have acted in something else.

In any case, Edward Clements. Here was a guy who had two roles in the space of two years, and it seems his first role was a rather large role in a rather unknown film. People who watch films, and I mean a fair bit of films, are likely to know of the quirky films of Whit Stillman, with his mannered characters and mannered dialog, it seems much like a British film of manners set in the US, which lends to its strangeness, as no one else makes films like it (which doesn't mean it's exciting, just different).

And as many people of that generation weren't really computer savvy, Mr. Clements appears to have disappeared. Where is he now? How did he get this role to begin with given that he's never acted before? Friend of the director?

And this, I imagine, is the story of many an actor, who has a breakthrough role (as much any role in a film is breakthrough), then decides, a year later, that they aren't going to be an actor anymore?

Such an ephemeral job, acting.