Kaylee Hottle died today, July 21, 2026 from injuries sustained in a single-vehicle collision in Ijamsville, Maryland. She was 18.
Kaylee Hottle was a deaf American actress who starred in the 2021 film Godzilla vs. Kong and its 2024 sequel, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. For the latter, she was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor.
Hottle was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to an all-deaf family, with her father’s side having four generations of deaf relatives. She was fluent in American Sign Language (ASL).
She attended the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin, Texas, where she competed in track and field.
Hottle’s career began with commercials as a child actor at the age of 9.
She was cast in the role of a deaf child in Godzilla vs. Kong, by recommendation of an assistant director from the earlier film Kong: Skull Island (2017) who had seen her in a Convo commercial.
“I had a connection with Convo. They asked me to be in a commercial one day, and so I did that commercial,” she said. “And then the assistant director of [Kong: Skull Island] saw me and they thought I matched the character description of Jia.”
Godzilla vs. Kong was her feature-film debut, starring alongside actors Rebecca Hall and Alexander Skarsgård, who learned ASL so they and Hottle could communicate off camera.
The film also starred Millie Bobby Brown, Brian Tyree Henry, Eiza González and Kyle Chandler, among others.
Hottle’s character, Jia, is the only human who communicates with King Kong directly using sign language. She teaches the giant ape how to sign, forming a close bond with him throughout Godzilla vs. Kong and its sequel, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
Outside of the MonsterVerse, Hottle appeared in an episode of the TV series Magnum P.I. in 2021 and she also appeared in a 2016 informational project titled 10 Deaf Children: One Powerful Message, which was a call to action to help the Deaf community.
To her fellow hearing impaired looking to get into the entertainment industry she said follow your dreams, but it takes patience.
“It takes a lot of patience to be in movies. Sometimes you have to go through some hard times but you have to accept it and in time, the end result will be great,” Hottle said.
Hottle was one of three occupants in the vehicle which veered off the road and struck a culvert. Police said that “excessive speed” was believed to be a factor.
The driver—a 19-year-old—survived with non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital. The other passenger in the vehicle declined medical treatment at the scene.
Hottle’s father, Joshua, announced in an emotional Facebook livestream that her heart stopped while she was being transported to the hospital.
Former co-star Millie Bobby Brown paid tribute to Hottle on social media, as did Hottle’s hero, fellow deaf actress and advocate Marlee Matlin.
Brown, 22, shared a black-and-white photo of Hottle holding up a toy version of King Kong on her Instagram with a caption, “I’m so devastated to hear this.,” she wrote. “You will be deeply missed Kaylee.”
Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin, 60, wrote, “I am absolutely gutted about the passing of sweet Kaylee Hottle. May her beauty and talent be a memory for eternity,” she wrote on Instagram.
“Such a privilege to have met Kaylee last year. Please be kind to one another. Take the time to listen to your child. Say 🤟🏼 each time you part.”
