Joshua Shintani earned his 15 minutes of fame for simply doing something he enjoyed.

After being discovered by movie director Peter Farrelly on Shintani’s home island of Kauai — he was literally standing on the side of the road playing his ukulele when Farrelly drove by in a rental car — the Waimea High School graduate shared screen time with Hollywood actors Jack Black, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jason Alexander in the 2001 romantic comedy “Shallow Hal.”

Shintani, 32, died Nov. 25 after his mother, Sandy Shintani, took him to a Kauai hospital for treatment of an “advanced case of pneumonia,” TMZ reported Monday.

At first the chance encounter with a vacationing Farrelly led to a screen test in Los Angeles with “Shallow Hal” casting directors, according to a 2002 story in Kauai’s The Garden Island. His rendition of the Justin Young song “Never Forget Where I’m From,” however, turned the cameo into a speaking role with scenes opposite the film’s main stars.

“I kind of did good, so I was happy,” Shintani said. “You don’t work hard, you just wait hard.”