{"id":562254,"date":"2026-07-22T09:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T09:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/562254\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T09:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T09:16:09","slug":"kaylee-hottle-godzilla-vs-kong-actor-dies-aged-18-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/562254\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaylee Hottle: Godzilla vs Kong actor dies aged 18 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stranger Things actor Millie Bobby Brown<\/a> has paid tribute to her Godzilla vs Kong<\/a> costar Kaylee Hottle, who has died aged 18.<\/p>\n

The US actor \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 on Tuesday in a tearful livestream shared to Facebook, which was in American Sign Language (ASL) as the Hottle family are all deaf.<\/p>\n

Her mother, Ketsi, also shared a post in ASL which featured a selfie with her daughter as the cover photo, and wrote: \u201cPrivilege to be your mom, Kaylee Hottle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hottle was one of two passengers involved in a collision at 3am on Tuesday morning, while the driver was a 19-year-old man who was taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries, The Associated Press (AP) reports.<\/p>\n

AP said the crash is under investigation, with Frederick County Sheriff\u2019s Office saying \u201cexcessive speed\u201d is believed to be a factor.<\/p>\n

Hottle made her feature film debut in Godzilla vs Kong alongside Brown, who played Madison Russell, the teenage daughter of quasi-governmental scientists.<\/p>\n

Brown has said she was \u201cdevastated\u201d as she paid tribute to her costar, and shared a black and white image of Hottle to her Instagram story.<\/p>\n

Over the photo, the Emmy-nominated actor wrote: \u201cI\u2019m so devastated to hear this. You will be deeply missed Kaylee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marlee Matlin, who was the first deaf actress to win an Oscar for her role in Children of a Lesser God, shared a photo to X of herself and fellow actor Shoshannah Stern alongside Hottle.<\/p>\n

She wrote: \u201cI am absolutely gutted about the passing of sweet Kaylee Hottle. May her beauty and talent be a memory for eternity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stern also paid tribute, sharing the news to her Instagram page and writing: \u201cI am heartbroken. My deepest sympathies to the Hottle family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hottle attended Texas School For The Deaf (TSD) in Austin, where she was a senior, and the institution 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 appeared in Godzilla vs Kong as Jia, an orphaned deaf girl who forms a bond with giant great ape Kong by communicating with him in ASL.<\/p>\n

She 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, Hottle often spoke about the inclusion of deafness in the entertainment industry.<\/p>\n

Hottle also appeared in a 2021 episode of Magnum PI, as well as several advertisements \u2013 including one promoting support for the deaf community in their pursuit of equal rights. \u2013 PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stranger Things actor Millie Bobby Brown has paid tribute to her Godzilla vs Kong costar Kaylee Hottle, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,6911,115],"class_list":["post-562254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-millie-bobby-brown","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562254","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=562254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}