Quiet individual excelled (5)
I believe the answer is:
shone
'excelled' is the definition.
(shine can mean to excel or do well)
'quiet individual' is the wordplay.
'quiet' becomes 'sh' (both can be said to tell someone to be quiet).
'individual' becomes 'one' (an individual is one person).
'sh'+'one'='SHONE'
(Other definitions for shone that I've seen before include "Gave off light" , "Sparkled" , "Excelled; glowed" , "did brilliantly" , "Gleamed" .)