Kaylee Hottle, an actor best known for her role in the 2021 movie Godzilla vs Kong, has died following a car accident. She was 18.
The deaf actor’s father, Joshua Hottle, told TMZ of the news after posting a tearful Facebook livestream.
In the video, he explained in ASL that the crash occurred in Maryland.
The father signed that he was in Texas when he got a call from authorities about the collision, and that he received a follow-up call stating his daughter’s heart had stopped while on the way to the hospital, according to the outlet.
In 2021’s Godzilla vs Kong, Kaylee portrayed Jia, a teenager who communicates with King Kong via sign language and lives on Skull Island with Rebecca Hall's character Dr. Ilene Andrews. She reprised the role in the 2024 movie Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.
Kaylee, from Atlanta, Georgia, began her acting career in commercials. At nine, she starred in an ad for the live video messaging app Glide, which is used by many members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
She also had a small role in the Prime Video action series Magnum P.I.
She was born in 2007 and, according to a 2024 interview with Chron magazine, she was scouted by casting director Sarah Halley Finn for the Godzilla role after appearing in an advert for the video relay service app Convo.
“I had a connection with Convo. They asked me to be in a commercial one day, and so I did that commercial,” she told Chron through an interpreter. “And then the assistant director of [Kong: Skull Island] saw me and they thought I matched the character description of Jia.”
The article stated that Kaylee was a student at Texas School for the Deaf.
“It's a great school for deaf students to go to,” the 16-year-old told the publication at the time. “I have deaf teachers, and everyone is able to communicate with me through sign language.”
At the time, Kaylee spoke about representation for deaf actors in Hollywood.
“I see a lot of positive things. There's not a lot of deaf roles or opportunities out there,” Kaylee said. “And so now we're able, [and] I’m able to get them, and I think I've seen more and more growth and positivity.”
Kaylee’s family spans four generations of deaf relatives on her father’s side.
In his Facebook post, Kaylee’s father said that he was flying to Maryland to claim her body. He captioned the post: “I am taking a flight that I never would like to take.”
