Danny Trejo has celebrated being 55 years clean and sober

Legendary Hollywood actor Danny Trejo has hit an incredible milestone in his sobriety journey.

He's taken to social media to declare it has been more than half a century that he decided to get clean.

The 79-year-old wrote on Twitter: "I’m 55 years clean and sober today by the grace of God! I’ve done this one day at a time, and for anyone out there struggling YOU CAN TOO!"

The achievement saw fans flock to the comments section to congratulate him for making it this far.

One person said: "Congratulations sir.. you are awesome."

Another added: "Congratulations Mr. Trejo...and thanks for sharing the good news and paying it forward!"

A third wrote: "Congrats. Hope more people will be inspired by you."

Other fans took the opportunity to post how far they are in their journey to sober up and it was a beautiful, candid moment for the internet.

During his early years, Trejo spent a decent amount of his time in youth detention centres all over California.

These included Folsom, Soledad and San Quentin, where he became a known for his impressive knack for beating up his fellow inmates.

"I was lightweight or welterweight champion of every penitentiary I've been in," Trejo told TMZ.

"And I've been in all of 'em."

During the 1960s, Trejo spent more than a decade going in and out of prison for armed robberies and drug-related offences.

This bad boy lifestyle hit its peak when he threw a rock at a prison officer's head during a riot. He was placed in solitary confinement and told that he would face the death penalty if convicted.

"I was throwing it at a group of guys and he happened to be hit," Trejo explained in a Guardian interview in 2012.

"So we all had gas-chamber offences, and we were taken to the hole and I remember saying: 'God, if you're there, everything will turn out the way it's supposed to. If you're not, I'm fucked.'"

Thankfully for him, there were no witnesses willing to testify against him and he narrowly avoided a state-sanctioned execution.

This incident prompted the actor to quit booze and drugs once he was released and he quickly got to work turning his life around.

"I discovered AA and Narcotics Anonymous," he told the Guardian.

"My sponsor took me to a programme called RIF - Recover, Independence and Freedom - working with teen drug addicts. Even now, kids come up and say: 'Trejo, what's up? You helped me years ago'. So that's been a blessing."

It was through one of the kids he was working with that Trejo would land his big break in Hollywood.

It's incredible to see him come so far over the decades and be an inspiration to so many people around the world.