Child star Kaylee Hottle, best known for her appearances in the Godzilla vs. Kong film franchise, has tragically died.
The actress, who was reportedly 18 or 19 years old, died in a car crash on July 21 in Maryland. Her father Joshua Hottle shared the news in a Facebook livestream and confirmed the news to TMZ.
The grieving dad shared in American Sign Language (ASL) that he was informed of the accident by local authorities, who asked him to come claim her body in Texas. Hottle was involved in a serious accident, and her heart reportedly stopped on the way to the hospital.
Through tears, he shared the news with his followers on Facebook, captioning the clip with: “I am taking a flight that I never would like to take.”
Hottle was born in Atlanta, Georgia on May 1, 2007 to an all-Deaf family, and grew up speaking through ASL. She began starring in commercials from a young age, and attended the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin.
In 2021, Hottle was cast in Godzilla vs. Kong as a Deaf girl named Jia, who communicates with the monstrous ape using sign language, her film debut. Her co-stars Rebecca Hall and Alexander Skarsgård also learned ASL to they could better communicate with Hottle on set.
Godzilla vs. Kong ended up grossing $470 million at the worldwide box office, but was most notably a streaming hit for HBO Max, the biggest launch on their platform at the time.
© Getty ImagesHottle reprised her role in the 2024 sequel Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which outgrossed its predecessor by over $100 million globally. Her IMDb page also states that she appeared in a 2021 episode of the Magnum P.I. reboot, and was set to star in the film What Doesn’t Kill Us, currently in pre-production.
Hottle comes from four generations of Deaf family members, using their experience to her advantage and finding a quick footing with the Texas School for the Deaf to launch her acting career.
“It’s a great school for Deaf students to go to,” the teen actress told Chron ahead of Godzilla x Kong’s release through an interpreter. “I have Deaf teachers, and everyone is able to communicate with me through sign language.”
© Warner Bros.Hottle landed the role through her commercial with video relay app Convo. “I had a connection with Convo. They asked me to be in a commercial one day, and so I did that commercial. And then the assistant director of [Kong: Skull Island] saw me and they thought I matched the character description of Jia.”
Ahead of her movie debut, she told Junkee of her process as an actress: “I kind of just go with the flow,” adding: “I think that it’s important having Deaf actors play Deaf characters. Because Deaf people are aware of their own language and they’re more familiar with the culture.”
Her co-star Alexander offered his praise for the teen star, saying: “It’s fascinating how comfortable she is in front of the camera and how quickly she takes notes from the director Adam [Wingard].”
© Getty Images“He’ll explain something and she’ll be like ‘got it, got it’ then she’ll just do it and everyone’s like ‘the [expletive] … how did she?’ She’s so professional and just incredibly … there’s so much going on on her face, her expression and the subtleties of that is fascinating to watch.”
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