| Kaylee Hottle | |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Years Active: | 2021–present |
Kaylee Hottle (born) is a deaf American actress who stars in the 2021 film Godzilla vs. Kong and its 2024 sequel film .
Hottle was born around . She was born to an all-deaf family, with her father's side having four generations of deaf relatives, and is fluent in American Sign Language.[1] In 2017, she appeared in a commercial for the video relay service Convo.[2] 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.[3]
For the 2021 film Godzilla vs. Kong, the casting director Sarah Halley Finn looked for a deaf actor for the film's 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. The film's starring actors, Rebecca Hall and Alexander Skarsgård, learned ASL so they and Hottle could communicate on set when not in character.[4] In the film, her character uses ASL to communicate with the giant gorilla Kong. Hottle reprised her role as Jia for the 2024 film .[5]
She attends the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin, Texas.[6]