A restaurant manager's unique daily TikTok series pretending to be dead lands him a role on CSI Las Vegas.
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Key Takeaways
- Persistence and creativity can open unexpected doors in competitive fields like acting.
- Starting small and focusing on niche roles can be an effective entry strategy for beginners.
- Social media platforms like TikTok can serve as powerful tools for self-promotion and talent discovery.
- Improving skills incrementally, such as breath control and physical stillness, enhances performance quality.
- Even viral success does not guarantee continuous opportunities, but it can lead to breakthrough moments.
What the video covers
- Josh Nally, a restaurant manager, started posting daily TikTok videos pretending to be dead to get acting roles.
- He chose to play dead bodies as it was an easier way to get cast with no prior acting experience.
- Josh creatively staged himself in various locations like mud or tied by wrists to keep the series fresh.
- He improved his skills by learning to control breathing and mask physical movement over time.
- His videos went viral, with some reaching millions of views.
- After nearly a year and 321 days of daily videos, CSI Las Vegas contacted him.
- The show flew Josh out to LA to play a dead body in an episode, fulfilling his dream.
- Actress Sarah Amini praised Josh’s performance, saying he 'slayed his role' and was very convincing.
- Josh continued his daily series to seek more roles but did not receive further offers.
- The story highlights persistence, creativity, and unconventional paths to achieving acting goals.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Direct to when this random restaurant manager started posting these daily videos of himself pretending to be dead to try and get cast as a body in a TV show or movie. Since Josh Nally had always wanted to act, but had zero
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experience and also wasn't comfortable being on camera, he figured that the easiest way to get a role was just to play a dead body. So, he simply started this daily series on TikTok where he would pretend to be dead in all sorts of
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different creative ways in various locations like lying down in mud or being strapped up by his wrists.
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Although it was actually a lot of work since Josh had to find a new spot every single day. His videos quickly started going viral with some even getting millions of views. Over time, he learned how to better control his breathing and
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how to mask his physical touch. And after keeping at it for almost an entire year, on day 321, the TV show CSI Las Vegas finally reached out to him. Not only were they big fans of his work, they actually offered to fly him out to
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LA to play a dead body in one of their episodes. And for Josh, it was a literal dream come true. Sarah Amini, an actress on the show, later said that Josh slayed his role. And this guy plays dead really
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well. And although Josh still kept doing his daily series afterwards to try and get more roles, no one else ever reached out.
Topics:Josh NallyactingTikTokdead body roleCSI Las Vegasviral videospersistencecreative actingsocial mediabody acting











