A man who pretended to be dead for 321 days received an acting role on CSI.

The bloke in question, Josh Nalley from Kentucky, posted a video to TikTok every single day for nearly an entire year pretending to be dead before landing his dream role as a dead body on CSI: Vegas.

Talk about an alternative route into the weird and wonderful world of Hollywood...

TikTok/@living_dead_josh

While many aspiring stars attempt to break into the biz via relentless casting auditions, years in acting school and some good old-fashioned nepotism - it's clear that Josh had his own ideas.

Turns out that all you need is a bit of hard work, dedication and several hundred TikTok videos of yourself lying on the ground pretending to be dead to make it onto a major TV show and have your shot at fame.

Josh uploaded hundreds upon hundreds of clips of himself pretending to be dead in the hopes that a show would cast him as a corpse in one of their episodes.

And, in a bizarre twist of fate 321 days later, the Kentucky man's wish finally came true as CSI: Vegas got in touch after noticing the viral star and offered him the chance to play a dead body in one of their episodes.

Speaking to the Courier Journal, he explained that he had no acting experience but over time has learned how to more convincingly portray a corpse thanks to plenty of practice.

TikTok/@living_dead_josh

He said: "I don't like speaking on camera, but I can lie there and act like I am dead pretty easily.

"Having done more than 300 of these posts, I have progressed and gotten better. At first, you could see me breathing, or the fake blood looked really bad.

"I have gotten rid of using the blood and gotten better at holding my breath."

Josh figured out that the key to a convincing corpse shot was for there to be some movement in the video so it didn't just look like the photo, so while he was still, his surroundings were active and mobile.

He says he got the idea after seeing a woman posting about hot sauce on TikTok and getting a bunch of offers from retailers, which had him wondering if he could do basically the same thing about playing a dead body on TV.

It wasn't all plain sailing during his time on set, however, as he revealed that he accidentally blew one take by having his phone left on, and naturally a telemarketer decided to ring him at precisely the worst time.

While he has no plans to quit his day job of managing a restaurant, Josh has received a number of other offers to play a dead body for other productions, so maybe his shot at stardom is only just beginning.

I guess hard work really does pay off...