Film & TV6 min(s) read
Published 14:52 21 Jul 2026 GMT
Kaylee Hottle, the deaf actress who played Jia in Godzilla vs. Kong and its sequel Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, has died following a car accident in Maryland.
Her father, Joshua Hottle, confirmed the news to TMZ and in a 23-minute Facebook livestream delivered in American Sign Language.
He said he received a call about a serious car accident on Tuesday morning and was told shortly afterwards that his daughter's heart had stopped on the way to the hospital.
Joshua said he was flying from Texas to Maryland to claim her body.
Details of the accident remain limited.
Kaylee was involved in a car accident in Maryland on Tuesday morning, July 21.
Emergency services responded and she was transported towards a hospital, but her heart stopped en route.
No further details about the circumstances of the crash, including the location, whether other vehicles were involved, or whether anyone else was injured, have been released at the time of writing.
Maryland authorities have not yet issued a public statement.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Kaylee Hottle was an American actress born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2007.
She came from an all-deaf family spanning four generations of deaf relatives on her father's side. She was fluent in American Sign Language from birth.
She got her start in front of the camera at nine years old, appearing in a public service announcement for the video messaging app Glide, which is widely used within the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
In 2017, she appeared in a commercial for Convo Relay, a video relay service.
In 2018, she featured in a short film called 10 Deaf Children: One Powerful Message, produced by ASL Nook.
It was the Convo commercial that changed everything.
An assistant director from the 2017 film Kong: Skull Island saw it and passed Kaylee's name to casting director Sarah Halley Finn, who was looking for a deaf actress to play the character Jia in Godzilla vs. Kong.
Kaylee was cast when she just was 13 years old.
Kaylee played Jia, a young deaf orphan who is the last surviving member of the Iwi people from Skull Island.
Jia is the only character who can communicate with Kong, doing so through sign language.
She is raised by Dr Ilene Andrews, played by Rebecca Hall, and acts as the emotional heart of the film.
Godzilla vs. Kong was released in 2021 and grossed $470 million worldwide, making it one of the most successful films released during the pandemic era.
Kaylee's performance was widely praised, particularly for bringing a quiet emotional depth to a franchise built around spectacle.
Hall and co-star Alexander Skarsgård both learned American Sign Language so they could communicate with Kaylee on set when they were not filming.
Hall has spoken in multiple interviews about how the experience of working with Kaylee changed the way she approached the role.
Kaylee reprised the role of Jia in Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, released in March 2024.
In the sequel, Jia's role is significantly expanded. She discovers a deeper connection to the Hollow Earth and plays a central role in the story's climax.
The film grossed $572.5 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from audiences, though critics were mixed. Kaylee was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor for her work in the film.
At the world premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on March 25, 2024, Kaylee walked the red carpet alongside Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, and Dan Stevens.
Outside the Godzilla franchise, Kaylee appeared in the NBC reboot of Magnum P.I., playing a character named Joon in a season four episode.
According to IMDb, she had a film in pre-production at the time of her death titled What Doesn't Kill Us. No further details about the project have been released.
Joshua Hottle announced his daughter's death in a 23-minute Facebook livestream conducted entirely in American Sign Language. He was visibly distraught throughout.
He said he had received a call informing him Kaylee had been in a serious car accident.
A second call came shortly after, telling him that her heart had stopped while she was being taken to hospital.
He said he was flying from Texas to Maryland to be with her.
The livestream was shared widely across social media on Tuesday morning and was the first public confirmation of Kaylee's death, before TMZ published its report.
Tributes have begun pouring in from across the entertainment industry and the deaf community.
Kaylee was seen as a trailblazer for deaf representation in mainstream Hollywood, having landed a major franchise role at just 13 years old in a film that was seen by tens of millions of people worldwide.
Her casting in Godzilla vs. Kong was widely celebrated as a rare example of authentic deaf casting in a blockbuster, with a deaf actress playing a deaf character and using real ASL on screen.
Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, the studios behind the Godzilla franchise, have not yet issued a public statement at the time of writing.
Kaylee Hottle had appeared in two of the highest-grossing monster movies ever made.
She had been nominated for a Saturn Award, had a film in pre-production, and came from a family where deafness was not a limitation but a culture, and she brought that to every role she played.
For millions of deaf and hard-of-hearing children who watched Godzilla vs. Kong, Jia was the first time they saw someone like them at the centre of a Hollywood blockbuster.
That representation came from Kaylee.
This is a developing story. VT will continue to update this article as new information becomes available.
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Published 14:24 21 Jul 2026 GMT
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Published 11:59 31 Oct 2023 GMT
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A young deaf actress, best known for her starring roles in two Godzilla movies, has died after being involved in a serious car accident.
Kaylee Hottle, who played Jia in the blockbuster movies, was just 19 years old when she died.
Her father, Joshua Hottle, announced the tragic news today in a 23-minute-long live stream on social media, captioned: "I am taking a flight that I never would like to take."
He told TMZ that he learned Kaylee was involved in a serious car accident, and he was called shortly after to be told that her heart stopped on the way to the hospital.
The young actress comes from a multi-generational deaf family and began her career in a commercial for the live video messaging app Glide, which is used by many members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, when was just nine years old.
Hottle is also credited with an appearance in the Magnum P.I. reboot series, appearing in an episode in season four as a character named Joon.
In Godzilla vs. King Kong, Hottle played Jia, a teenager who communicates with Kong via sign language and lives on Skull Island with Rebecca Hall's character Dr. Ilene Andrews, and she reprised the role in 2024's Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.
Hottle's former school, the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin, Texas, shared a heartfelt statement in the wake of her untimely death.
It said: "It 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.
"Our hearts are with Kaylee’s family, friends, classmates, and everyone who knew and loved her during this incredibly difficult time.
"At this time, we have very limited information and ask that everyone respect the privacy of Kaylee’s family and refrain from sharing or speculating about the circumstances surrounding the accident.
"We recognize this loss will have a significant impact on our TSD community.
"Counseling and support services are available for students and staff who may need them, with additional support being provided for Kaylee’s classmates and friends.
"Please keep Kaylee’s loved ones in your thoughts as we mourn this tremendous loss together."
Published 17:14 22 Jan 2025 GMT
Published 12:09 19 Feb 2025 GMT
Kadance Fredericksen - an 18-year-old beauty pageant queen and founder of the Kada’s Promise charity initiative - tragically lost her life in a head-on car crash on a Florida highway.
The horrific tragedy came just one week after being awarded a $40,000 college scholarship, per the Daily Mail.
Fredericksen - a former Miss Okaloosa County Teen USA winner - was driving her sedan on State Highway 4 in Baker, Florida, on Monday when she collided with a tractor-trailer driven by a 56-year-old man, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The truck driver suffered minor injuries.
Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash.
Fredericksen’s journey to success was nothing short of inspirational. Before becoming a beloved pageant competitor and charity founder, she endured homelessness and abuse as a child.
“When I was little, I was abused and neglected by my biological mother and stepfather. During those times, the only thing I had to call my own was a stuffed animal I received as a gift years beforehand,” she told WCJB last year.
After being taken in by her father and adoptive mother, she found stability and turned her pain into purpose, launching Kada’s Promise in 2017.
The initiative provided teddy bears and blankets to children in foster care, abuse shelters, hospitals, and homeless shelters.
“During many dark times in my early childhood, the only thing that I could call my own or that made me feel safe was a single teddy bear that I received as a gift," she recalled. "I carried him with me from house to house, couch to couch, and clutched him tightly in the scariest times.
"It is from these memories that Kada’s Promise was born,” she wrote on the Kada’s Promise website."
Beyond her work with Kada’s Promise, Fredericksen used her pageant platform to raise $25,000 for the Ronald McDonald House, which provides temporary housing for families with children undergoing medical treatment.
Fredericksen was in her final year at Baker School and had been accepted into nine colleges, with plans to become a veterinarian.
Her bright future was further highlighted when she was awarded a $40,000 scholarship from the Ellison McCraney Ingram Foundation — a fund created in honor of a nine-year-old boy who died from a brain tumor in 2021.
She shared her excitement in her final Instagram post on February 7, writing: “This generous support will help shape my future and bring me one step closer to achieving my dreams.
"Thank you to the Ingram family, the foundation, and everyone involved for this amazing honor!”
Fredericksen’s sudden passing has left her school, community, and the pageant world in shock.
Baker School issued a statement offering grief counselors to students, saying: “Please keep the family, the town, and the school in your thoughts as they will all miss and grieve this young lady.”
Tributes have flooded social media, with many remembering her for her kind heart, radiant spirit, and dedication to helping others.
"Such a bright future ahead of her. Accomplished so much in her young life. I pray Kada's Promise will continue to do the great work she was doing," one Instagram user wrote.
“Fly high beautiful! You would light up any room you were in,” one person wrote.
“Forever a Queen. Rest in peace sweet girl. My heart is broken,” another commented.
From being crowned Little Miss Northwest Florida in 2017 to competing in Miss Teen Florida last year, she carried herself with grace and determination. However, in her short life, Fredericksen’s impact transcended pageantry, leaving behind a legacy of kindness, resilience, and service.
Our thoughts go out to Fredericksen's family and loved ones at this time.
Jessica Jones star Eka Darville’s young son has tragically died aged 10 following a brief battle with brain cancer.
Eka, famous for his role in the Marvel hit series Jessica Jones alongside David Tennant, is mourning the loss of his young son, Mana.
The 10-year-old boy fought bravely against a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer, known as glioneuronal brain cancer, but tragically succumbed to the disease, per News.com.au.
The devastating news was confirmed by Eka's mother, Malaika, in a video shared on the GoFundMe page that had been set up in her grandson's name. She expressed the family's deep sorrow and gratitude for the support they had received.
"I still wanted to come together in this prayer because he's still always gonna be with us, and he's still with us," Malaika said.
She continued: "You can imagine the amount of sadness and grief of Eka, Lila, and Lila's parents, his grandparents, myself, his little brothers. But at the same time, there's a lot of joy. There's a lot of peace. There's a lot of stillness in the house after such a long struggle for 463 days since the whole ordeal began. And now he's free. Now he's dancing in the light."
"We all see it, we feel it, and I know that many of you, like myself, loved Mana eternally," she added.
The tragic journey began when Mana collapsed on a beach in July 2022. Subsequently, he experienced devastating seizures, leading to his hospitalization in January of this year, where doctors diagnosed him with brain cancer.
Despite undergoing an operation to remove as much of the tumor as possible, Mana's family embarked on a mission to find a cure for the young boy outside of Australia.
They identified potential lifesaving treatments in the United States and set a fundraising goal of $600,000 to cover the expenses. Remarkably, the family managed to raise the funds in just a few months.
Last week, the family shared their hope and faith on Instagram, writing: "Mana is still breathing, so we have hope. We know miracles are possible because we see it every day with our little man. Thank you to everyone for sharing your daily #manamoment with us."
Sadly Mana passed away, and netizens offered their condolences, including Australian actress Teresa Palmer who penned: "Sending immense love your way, friends."
Our thoughts are with Mana's loved ones during this difficult time.
Published 17:57 22 Apr 2025 GMT
Sophie Nyweide - the former child actress best known for starring as Michelle Williams’ daughter in the 2009 film Mammoth - has tragically died at the age of 24.
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The heartbreaking news was confirmed by her family in an online obituary, which stated that she passed away on April 14, per the Daily Mail.
“Sophie was a kind and trusting girl,” her loved ones wrote. “Often this left her open to being taken advantage of by others. She wrote and drew voraciously, and much of this art depicts the depth she had, and it also represents the pain she suffered.”
Nyweide had a remarkable career before even hitting double digits — appearing in seven films by her 10th birthday. But behind the promising talent was a young woman fighting private battles that would ultimately claim her life.
“Many of her writings and artwork are roadmaps of her struggles and traumas,” her obituary explained. “Even with those roadmaps, diagnoses and her own revelations, those closest to her, plus therapists, law enforcement officers and others who tried to help her, are heartbroken their efforts couldn’t save her from her fate.”
They revealed that Sophie had “self-medicated to deal with all the trauma and shame she held inside,” and that “resulted in her death.”
Despite their continued support, her family said she “repeatedly said she would ‘handle it’ on her own and was compelled to reject the treatment that might possibly have saved her life.”
Her family urged those mourning her passing to consider donating to RAINN — the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network — in Sophie’s name, calling on the world to “do better", the Mirror adds.
“Sophie. A life ended too soon. May it not be in vain. May we all learn from her brief life on earth and do better. Yes, we must all protect our children and do better.”
Sophie’s passion for acting emerged early — and it wasn’t just a phase.
She was born on July 8, 2000, and raised in a movie theater, where her mother Shelly Gibson - an actress herself - worked, per E! News.
“She grew up in this movie theatre and slept in the movie theatre and had a little bed in the projection booth and watched many movies,” Gibson said in a 2010 interview with The Times Argus.
Her daughter added: “I kept wondering what would it be like if I could see myself on that screen. What would it feel like to be doing this? Would it be hard, would it be easy? I wanted to try it.”
Sophie’s acting debut came in 2006 when she landed the lead in Bella, a film directed by Alejandro Gómez Monteverde and starring Eduardo Verastegui and Tammy Blanchard.
The film won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
From there, her résumé quickly filled up. She appeared in Law & Order, And Then Came Love, Margot at the Wedding, New York City Serenade, and An Invisible Sign alongside Jessica Alba.
In the 2010 movie, she played the daughter of a terminally ill woman — a performance that drew critical acclaim. “The film’s best performance comes from a 10-year-old,” wrote New York Times critic Jeannette Catsoulis in 2011. “Playing a near-motherless tyke, little Sophie Nyweide (who looks like a diminutive Emily Watson and already has five films under her belt) should have a glowing future.”
Her final on-screen appearance came in 2015, on ABC’s hidden camera show What Would You Do?
Beyond acting, Sophie’s family described her as “creative, athletic and wise beyond her years.” She was a competitive snowboarder from the age of five, and her obituary read: “Sophie accomplished so much in the time she danced upon earth — literally — she danced as she moved!”
They said she was an “eager adventurer” who embraced different cultures and languages, made friends effortlessly, and always saw “the good in everyone.” “Her ‘family’ wasn’t just her immediate family,” they noted. “It also included the families of those closest to her.”
Still, the film set was where she found the most peace. “She seemed happiest on a movie set, becoming someone else,” her loved ones shared. “It was a safe place for her and she relish from the casts and crews who nourished her talent and her well being.”
Her mother, Shelly Gibson — known for her roles in Dust to Malibu, St. Elsewhere, and All My Children — paid tribute over the weekend, sharing a moving message with a photo of her daughter.
“RIP, my Sophie. She graced us for far too short a time. My daughter was a light for all who met her. For those us of who were truly close with Sophie, we are gutted and will need a long time to get over her passing. I know I never will. God I love my daughter. I want her back. Fly high sweetheart — you always could.”
Our thoughts go out to Nyweide's family, loved ones, and fans at this time.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or rainn.org in the US, or contact rapecrisis.org.uk or call 0808 500 2222 in the UK.
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