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Kaylee Hottle, who acted in Godzilla Vs Kong, dies at 18 due to car crash
The actor appeared in the 2021 film Godzilla vs Kong. She was killed in a tragic car accident in Maryland.
Kaylee Hottle, the deaf actor who made her breakthrough with her role as Jia in Godzilla vs Kong and Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, has died. She was 18. The news of her demise was announced by her father, Joshua Hottle, via a Facebook livestream using American Sign Language. He also confirmed her death to TMZ, saying that she died in a car accident in Maryland. (Also read: Prakash Raj says a movement like freedom struggle is brewing again with CJP protest: ‘I will stand by them’)
Kaylee dies at 18
Texas School for the Deaf, where Hottle was a senior, also confirmed the news in a statement on social media. Hottle and her father are both deaf and come from a multi-generational deaf family.
"It is with profound sadness that we share the heartbreaking news that one of our TSD seniors, Kaylee Hottle, tragically passed away yesterday in a car accident in Frederick, Maryland," Texas School for the Deaf's post read.
"Our hearts are with Kaylee's family, friends, classmates, and everyone who knew and loved her during this incredibly difficult time. At this time, we have very limited information and ask that everyone respect the privacy of Kaylee's family and refrain from sharing or speculating about the circumstances surrounding the accident."
Her role in Godzilla films
Hottle is best known for playing Jia, a deaf orphan who forms a close bond with Kong and is taken in by Dr Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), in 2021's 'Godzilla vs Kong' and 2024's 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.' For the latter, Hottle was nominated for the Saturn Award for best performance by a younger actor.
In an interview with The Daily Moth in 2021, the actor was asked how tough it was for her to get the script memorised after getting through with the process of translating it. She had said, "I was fine with memorizing the script and signing my lines, but the tough part was signing out the "spoken" parts because we had to change it, and sometimes they’d tell us it was wrong but they didn’t understand that ASL changes almost everything. Because the interpreter said what I said. The producer and director would sometimes say “Don’t say that” and want me to follow the script, but the signs for that sentence would be different in ASL. There was one instance where there was a misunderstanding between us related to the ASL translation, which caused a delay, but they later understood."
