Daveigh Chase, Voice of Lilo in Lilo & Stitch and Star of The Ring, Dies at 35
Daveigh Chase, the former child actress whose performances helped define a generation of animated and horror films, has died at the age of 35.
Chase died Tuesday in Los Angeles. Chase’s boyfriend confirmed the news to TMZ, who said the actress died from meningitis and a blood infection after being hospitalized earlier this month for malnutrition. Her father also confirmed her death to The New York Times and said she had been struggling with substance abuse since childhood. According to the newspaper, Chase had recently been homeless and living in Los Angeles with her boyfriend.
Though her acting career was relatively brief, Chase left an outsized mark on popular culture through a handful of memorable roles that continue to resonate with audiences decades later. She became one of the most recognizable child performers of the early 2000s, earning acclaim in both animation and live-action projects before stepping away from the spotlight in the years that followed.
Chase’s breakthrough came in 2002 when she voiced Lilo Pelekai, the spirited young Hawaiian girl at the center of Disney’s animated hit Lilo & Stitch. The film became an instant success and remains one of Disney’s most beloved modern animated features. Her performance as Lilo, a lonely but fiercely independent child who forms an unlikely friendship with an alien fugitive.
The role won Chase an Annie Award for Outstanding Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production and launched a long association with the franchise. She returned to voice Lilo in several follow-up projects, including Stitch! The Movie in 2003, the television series Lilo & Stitch: The Series, and Leroy & Stitch in 2006.
That same year, Chase also contributed to another landmark animated release, providing the English-language voice of Chihiro Ogino in the dubbed version of Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-winning masterpiece Spirited Away. The film introduced many American viewers to Studio Ghibli and became one of the most celebrated animated films of all time.
While Chase found success in family entertainment, she also became a familiar face to horror fans through one of the genre’s most iconic modern villains. Also in 2002, she portrayed Samara Morgan in Gore Verbinski’s The Ring, the American remake of the Japanese horror classic. The image of Samara emerging from a television set remains one of the defining moments in 21st-century horror cinema. While the character’s physical movements were also performed by actress Kelly Stables and contortionist Bonnie Morgan, Chase’s portrayal became inseparable from the film’s success. Footage of her performance later appeared in both The Ring Two and 2017’s Rings.
Beyond those career-defining roles, Chase built an impressive résumé across film and television during her youth. She appeared as Samantha Darko, the younger sister of Jake Gyllenhaal’s title character in the cult classic Donnie Darko, before reprising the role in the 2009 sequel S. Darko. On television, she had a recurring role in HBO’s Big Love and voiced characters in several animated projects, including PBS Kids’ Betsy’s Kindergarten Adventures.
