GONE TOO SOON

‘Godzilla’ Child Star Dies at 19

The actress who played Jia in two MonsterVerse films died after a car crash in Maryland, her father said.

Kaylee Hottle, the deaf actress who won over audiences as Jia in the Godzilla franchise, has died after a car crash in Maryland. She was 19. Her father, Joshua Hottle, confirmed the news to TMZ, saying his daughter was involved in a serious crash early Tuesday morning and that officials later told him her heart stopped on the way to the hospital. Joshua Hottle also shared the devastating news in an emotional livestream conducted in American Sign Language, explaining that he was flying from Texas to claim his daughter’s body. Hottle made her feature-film debut in 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, playing Jia, the young deaf girl who communicated with Kong through sign language, before reprising the role in 2024’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. A member of a multigenerational deaf family, Hottle began acting in commercials as a child and later appeared in an episode of Magnum P.I. Her death comes just as her career was beginning to gain momentum.