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Kaylee Hottle has passed away. The deaf actress played the character Jia in two of the Monsterverse films: Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Hottle was involved in a car crash and has now passed away at the age of 18.
Hottle’s death was confirmed by her father, Joshua Hottle, who reported the news to TMZ. According to Joshua, Kaylee died early Tuesday morning in Maryland. Joshua publicly announced the news in a social media live stream.
In the video, Joshua announced the news in American Sign Language (ASL), revealing that he had flown from Texas to bring his daughter’s body home. He said officials told him Kaylee went into cardiac arrest while being transported to the hospital after the accident.
Born to a deaf family, Hottle started her acting career in 2017 by appearing in commercials. One of her first commercials saw her appear in a PSA for the messaging app Glide, which is used by members of the deaf community. It didn’t take long before she made her feature film debut in 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong. In the film, Hottle played Jia, a deaf character with a unique ability to communicate with King Kong using sign language.
She reprised the role in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, where Jia’s story was expanded significantly. Her performance in the film earned her a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor. Her performance was praised by her co-stars Alexander Skarsgård and Rebecca Hall, the latter playing her on-screen adoptive mother. Both actors learned ASL to communicate with Hottle on the film’s set.
Besides the Godzilla films, Hottle’s only acting credit is the 2021 TV show Magnum P.I. She was set to star in an upcoming film titled What Doesn’t Kill Us, according to her IMDb page.
ComingSoon sends condolences to Hottle’s friends and family at this time.
Originally reported by Rahul Majumdar on ComingSoon.net.
