Godzilla vs. Kong actor Kaylee Hottle dies in car accident at 18

Actor Kaylee Hottle, best known for portraying Jia in Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, has died in a car accident at the age of 18. Her family and the Texas School for the Deaf confirmed the tragic news.

Los Angeles: Actress Kaylee Hottle, known for her work in the 2021 film Godzilla vs. Kong and its 2024 sequel, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, passed away in a car accident aged 18.

As per The New York Times, her father, Joshua Hottle, announced the news in a Facebook livestream using American Sign Language, saying that she died in a car accident in Maryland and he was flying from Texas to claim her body.

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Texas School for the Deaf, where Hottle was a senior, also confirmed the news in a statement. Hottle and her father are both deaf and come from a multi-generational deaf family, reports variety.com.

“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 reads.

The statement further 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.”

Kaylee is best known for playing Jia, a deaf orphan who forms a close bond with Kong and is taken in by Dr. Ilene Andrews, in 2021’s “Godzilla vs. Kong” and 2024’s “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.”

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Kaylee was from an all-deaf family and got her start in commercials promoting support for the deaf community, including the video interpreting service Convo. She was fluent in American Sign Language and communicated with Kong in both “Godzilla” films by signing.

She started her career with commercials. In 2017, at the age of 9. For the 2021 film Godzilla vs. Kong, casting director Sarah Halley Finn looked for a deaf actor for the deaf character Jia through a network of casting-directors and theaters, and was guided to Hottle by an assistant director from the earlier film Kong: Skull Island who had seen her in a Convo commercial.