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Kaylee Hottle

( 2000s Births )

Deaf Film Kong She

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Kaylee Hottle (born 2007) is a deaf American actress who stars in and is primarily known for her appearance in the 2021 film Godzilla vs. Kong and its 2024 sequel film . For the latter, she was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor.

Background

Hottle was born in 2007 to an all-deaf family, with her father's side having four generations of deaf relatives, and is fluent in American Sign Language. In 2017, she appeared in a commercial for the video relay service Convo. She also appeared in other commercials, as well as the informational project 10 Deaf Children: One Powerful Message, aimed at promoting support for the Deaf community in their pursuit of equal rights. She attends the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin, Texas where she competes in Track and Field.

For the 2021 film Godzilla vs. Kong, casting director Sarah Halley Finn looked for a deaf actor for the deaf character Jia through a network of casting directors and theaters, and she was guided to Hottle by an assistant director from the earlier film who saw her in a Convo commercial. The film was Hottle's feature-film debut. Starring actors, Rebecca Hall and Alexander Skarsgård, learned ASL so they and Hottle could communicate on set when not acting, like how Jia uses ASL to communicate with King Kong. Hottle reprised her role as Jia for the 2024 film , for which she was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor at the 52nd Saturn Awards.