A circuit having a full bridge configuration with a single actively biased switching element. In one embodiment, the circuit is a ballast circuit having a full bridge inverter with one switching element. The bridge includes a diode coupled to the switching element such that the diode and the switching element are coupled between positive and negative rails of the inverter. The bridge further includes first and second capacitors coupled end to end across the positive and negative rails. The ballast circuit can be coupled to a rectifier/boost circuit having a boost inductor coupled to the inverter circuit. In an exemplary embodiment, a ballast circuit includes an inverter circuit having a switching element with a conduction state controlled by a control circuit which limits a voltage applied to the lamp. The control circuit provides a conduction control signal to a duty cycle control circuit. The conduction control signal alternately biases the switching element to conductive and non-conductive states at a first duty cycle when the lamp voltage is below a predetermined level. When the lamp voltage becomes greater than the predetermined level, the duty cycle control circuit decreases the switching element to a second duty cycle, which is less than the first duty cycle, to reduce the voltage at the lamp.