Kaylee Hottle, the deaf actress known for her role as Jia in Godzilla vs. Kong, has died at the age of 18. Her father, Joshua Hottle, confirmed the news during a Facebook live stream on July 21.
Joshua, who is also deaf, signed that he traveled from Texas to Maryland to retrieve Kaylee's body after being informed of her death. He said she was involved in a severe car crash and that her heart stopped beating on the way to the hospital.
Breakthrough role in MonsterVerse
Born into a deaf family in 2007, Hottle attended the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin. She began acting in 2017 with a commercial for Convo, a video relay service. Her big break came when she was cast as Jia in Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), her first feature film. Her character communicates with King Kong using sign language.
She starred alongside Alexander Skarsgård and Rebecca Hall, who learned American Sign Language to communicate with her off-camera. Hottle reprised her role in the sequel Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) and earned a Saturn Award nomination for Best Performance by a Younger Actor in 2025.
Tributes pour in
Fans paid tribute on social media. One wrote: "Such a talented young actress who brought so much heart to the Godzilla films." Another said: "Absolutely heartbreaking news. She was so talented and brought such incredible representation to the MonsterVerse films. Rest in peace."
A third fan posted: "That's awful, such a beautiful talented girl taken way too soon." Another added: "Heartbroken to hear this, she lit up the screen and now we'll keep her memory shining."
