Kaylee Hottle, the deaf actress who played Jia in the _Godzilla_ film franchise, died Tuesday at age 18 following a single-vehicle crash in Maryland, authorities said.The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office said the crash happened around 3 a.m. on Windsor Road in Ijamsville.
A 1995 Honda Accord left the roadway and struck a culvert. Hottle was a passenger. She was transported to a trauma center, where she was pronounced dead. Investigators said excessive speed appears to have been a factor. The 19-year-old driver suffered injuries that were not life-threatening. The other passenger declined medical treatment.
Hottle broke out in 2021’s _Godzilla vs. Kong_ as Jia, a deaf orphan from Skull Island’s Iwi tribe who communicated with Kong through sign language. She reprised the role in 2024’s _Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire_ and earned a Saturn Award nomination for Best Performance by a Younger Actor.
Born in Atlanta to an American father and Korean mother, Hottle came from a family with four generations of deafness. She was a senior at the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin and used American Sign Language. Her father, Joshua Hottle, confirmed her death in a livestream in ASL.Tributes came in from co-stars and advocacy groups. _Godzilla_ co-star Millie Bobby Brown called herself “devastated.”
