![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/godzilla-vs-kong-actress-kaylee-hottle-dies-aged-19.jpg\")
Kaylee Hottle (second right) with fellow cast members from Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire: Brian Tyree Henry, Fala Chen, Rebecca Hall and Dan Curtis (Barry King\/Alamy\/PA)<\/p>\nUS actress Kaylee Hottle, best known for starring in Godzilla Vs Kong, has died aged 19, her father has announced.<\/p>\n
Hottle \u2013 who appeared in the popular sci-fi film and its sequel, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire \u2013 was killed in a car crash in Frederick, Maryland, it has been reported.<\/p>\n
Her death was confirmed by her father Joshua in a tearful livestream shared to Facebook on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The video was in American Sign Language (ASL) as the Hottle family is all-deaf, and was captioned: \u201cI am taking a flight that I never would like to take.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaylee Hottle (second right) with fellow cast members from Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire: Brian Tyree Henry, Fala Chen, Rebecca Hall and Dan Curtis (Barry King\/Alamy\/PA)<\/p>\n
The actress attended Texas School For The Deaf (TSD) in Austin, where she was a senior, and the institution has paid tribute to her after the \u201cheartbreaking\u201d news of her death.<\/p>\n
The school shared a photo of her and wrote: \u201cIt is with profound sadness that we share the heartbreaking news that one of our TSD seniors, Kaylee Hottle, tragically passed away yesterday in a car accident in Frederick, Maryland.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hearts are with Kaylee\u2019s family, friends, classmates, and everyone who knew and loved her during this incredibly difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n
It added: \u201cPlease keep Kaylee\u2019s loved ones in your thoughts as we mourn this tremendous loss together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hottle made her feature film debut in Godzilla Vs Kong alongside stars such as Alexander Skarsgard and Millie Bobby Brown.<\/p>\n
Her character, Jia, was an orphaned deaf girl who formed a bond with giant great ape Kong by communicating with him in ASL.<\/p>\n
Hottle reprised her role in the 2024 sequel, landing a Saturn Award nomination for best performance by a younger actor.<\/p>\n
While promoting the hit sci-fi films, the actress often spoke about the inclusion of deafness in the entertainment industry.<\/p>\n
She also appeared in several advertisements, including one promoting support for the deaf community in their pursuit of equal rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US actress Kaylee Hottle, best known for starring in Godzilla Vs Kong, has died aged 19, her father…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":["post-561522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}