Kaylee Hottle (May 1, 2007 โ July 21, 2026) was a deaf American actor. She starred in the 2021 film Godzilla vs. Kong and its 2024 sequel, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
๐ค Early Life
Kaylee Hottle was born on May 1, 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia. She was born to an all-deaf family, with her father’s side having four generations of deaf relatives. She was fluent in American Sign Language.
She attended the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin, Texas. There, she competed in track and field.
๐ฅ Career Beginnings
Hottle’s acting career began with commercials. In 2017, at the age of 9, she appeared in a commercial for the video relay service Convo. She also appeared in other commercials and the informational project 10 Deaf Children: One Powerful Message.
๐๏ธ Film Breakthrough
For the 2021 film Godzilla vs. Kong, casting director Sarah Halley Finn looked for a deaf actor for the deaf character Jia. She was guided to Hottle by an assistant director from Kong: Skull Island who had seen her in a Convo commercial. The film was Hottle’s feature-film debut.
Starring actors Rebecca Hall and Alexander Skarsgรฅrd learned ASL so they and Hottle could communicate on set when not acting. Also in 2021, she appeared in an episode of the TV series Magnum P.I.
๐ Sequel and Nomination
Hottle reprised her role as Jia for the 2024 film Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. For this role, she was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor at the 52nd Saturn Awards.
๐ Accident and Death
Hottle sustained injuries in a single-vehicle collision in Ijamsville, Maryland, on July 21, 2026, at the age of 19. She was one of three occupants in a vehicle that veered off the road and struck a culvert. The driver suffered non-life-threatening injuries, while the other passenger walked away unharmed.
Police said that “excessive speed” was believed to be a factor. Hottle was airlifted to R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center by Maryland State Police, where she was pronounced dead. Hottle’s father announced her death in a Facebook video statement.
๐ Tributes
Former co-stars Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, Eiza Gonzรกlez, and Millie Bobby Brown paid tribute to Hottle on social media. Actor and deaf advocate Marlee Matlin also paid tribute.
| Category | Detail | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birth | May 1, 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia | 2007 | Text |
| First Commercial | Convo video relay service | 2017 | Text |
| Film Debut | Godzilla vs. Kong | 2021 | Text |
| Death | Single-vehicle collision in Ijamsville, Maryland | July 21, 2026 | Text |