Kaylee Hottle, Who Played Jia in ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’ Films, He died at the age of 18

Kaylee Hottle was deaf, and so was the character who made her famous: Jia, the little girl who signed on to King Kong. His father says he died in a car accident in Maryland on Tuesday morning.

A car accident in Maryland Tuesday morning killed Kaylee Hottle, according to her father, Joshua Hottle, who spoke to TMZ.

Joshua said officials called him shortly after the accident to tell him that Kaylee’s heart had stopped on the way to the hospital. He shared the news in a nearly 23-minute live broadcast, explaining in ASL that he had to fly from Texas to retrieve his body.

Kaylee grew up in Atlanta and comes from a multi-generational deaf family. He started in commercials at age 9, including a PSA for Glide, a video messaging app widely used by the deaf and hard of hearing community.

In 2021 he played Jia in “Godzilla vs. Kong,” a teenager who communicates with King Kong through sign language and lives on Skull Island with Dr. Ilene Andrews by Rebecca Hall. He also played a role in the 2024 film “Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.”

He also appeared as a character named Joon in a season 4 episode of the “Magnum PI” reboot.

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