Kaylee Hottle, the young deaf actress who won hearts with her role as Jia in the “Godzilla” movies, has tragically died at the age of 18.
Her father, Joshua Hottle, confirmed that she lost her life in a car accident that happened early Tuesday in Maryland. In an emotional live broadcast using American Sign Language (ASL), he shared that he had flown from Texas to bring his daughter’s body home.
According to Joshua, he was initially told that Kaylee had been seriously injured in the crash. Not long afterward, authorities informed him that she went into cardiac arrest while being transported to the hospital and could not be saved.
Kaylee, who was born in Atlanta, Georgia, came from a family with generations of deaf relatives. She began her career at just nine years old, appearing in commercials, including a public service campaign for the video messaging app Glide, which is widely used by the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
She gained worldwide recognition in 2021 for portraying Jia in “Godzilla vs. Kong,” where her character communicated with King Kong through sign language. She returned to the role in the 2024 sequel, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.”
Aside from the Godzilla franchise, Kaylee also appeared in an episode of the “Magnum P.I.” reboot, playing a character named Joon.
She was just 18 years old.
