The Unbelievable Amount This Celebrity Lookalike Gets Paid

Two years ago Thaddeus Kalinoski was down on his luck after his wife left him and he lost his job. Like anyone in that situation, he let himself go and piled on a few pounds.

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He gave up shaving, grew a beard and his friends starting telling him he looked like Zach Galfianakis’ character in the Hangover films.

After spending a night in costume at an Atlantic City casino, where he says he "didn’t pay for a drink all night", the 38-year-old capitalised on his new-found doppelgänger status by moving to Vegas to become a professional lookalike.

He now reportedly rakes in $250,000 a year posing for photos on the Vegas strip and attending parties in character - he was even cast as Galfianakis’ body double in The Hangover Part III.

His enviable Instagram account shows him partying hard just like his fictional counterpart, and he has photos with the real-life stars of The Hangover including Bradley Cooper and Mike Tyson.

He now lives in Vegas full time sharing an apartment with another Zach Galifianakis lookalike and the pair spend their days and nights in costume, taking photos with strangers who pay them with cash, or more often than not, booze.

"There’s a whole performance to the night now,” he told Bro Bible earlier this year, "because my roommate looks exactly like me. It’s f***ing creepy. We’ll take turns playing Zach while the other guy dons a lifelike Mike Tyson mask. We even shelled out for an animatronic baby. It looks so damn real I sometimes forget it’s fake."

Tom Butler writes for Yahoo Movies UK.