Actor falls off stage before collecting award

A young actor overcome with joy has stolen the show at an award ceremony, falling off stage and hitting his head on the way to collecting his prize.

Harrison Poe took out the gong for Best Supporting Actor at the Tommy Tune Awards for high school drama students in Houston on Tuesday night, local TV station KTRK reports.

After climbing onto the stage to accept the prize the actor took an inadvertent shortcut that saw him tumble into the orchestra pit, hitting his head on the stage as he crashed down in front of a crowd of 2600 spectators.

Fortunately the pit was covered by a net and the student took the tumble in his stride.

Poe quickly picked himself up and accepted the award, laughing off the viral video shame that could cast a shadow over one of his greatest accomplishments so far.

"Thank goodness I'm alive," the teen joked.

"It is such an honour to receive this award… Especially after barely making it up here."