Daveigh Chase, who moved between some of early-2000s Hollywood’s most recognizable roles as a child actor, died Tuesday at 35 from complications tied to meningitis. She was best known for voicing Lilo in Disney’s Lilo & Stitch. In the same year, she was also known for her unsettling turn as Samara Morgan in The Ring. Her death was confirmed to TMZ by her boyfriend, Roy Hernandez. He had recently launched a GoFundMe as her condition worsened. He said she had been diagnosed with meningitis alongside severe blood infections. These infections escalated into septic complications.
Hernandez described a rapid decline in her health, noting that doctors warned the infection had become critical. He also said the illness spread through her bloodstream, triggering what he called “septic issues and led to her body shutting down.” A representative for Chase did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to Deadline. As a result, the announcement prompted an outpouring of reflection on a career that began unusually early.
Born in Las Vegas in 1990 and raised in Oregon, Chase began acting in commercials and stage work as a child. By elementary school, she was already appearing on television series including ER, Charmed, and The Practice. Her early momentum carried into film, with a role in Donnie Darko (2001). There, she appeared alongside Jake Gyllenhaal. Around the same period, she voiced Chihiro in the English-language version of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away.
From early breakout roles to later career and personal struggles
Her breakout came in 2002 with Lilo & Stitch, where she voiced Lilo, a lonely Hawaiian girl who befriends an alien she names Stitch. That same year, she appeared in The Ring as Samara Morgan. This role made her one of the most recognizable faces in horror at the time. At 12, she won Best Villain at the MTV Movie Awards. She won ahead of several major Hollywood names.
In later years, Chase took on television roles, including HBO’s Big Love, and briefly revisited Donnie Darko in S. Darko. After 2016’s Jack Goes Home, she largely stepped back from acting. Hernandez’s GoFundMe described periods of instability in her life, including bullying and estrangement from family. He said she and Chase had recently been navigating a difficult stretch together before her health deteriorated. TMZ reported she was hospitalized earlier this month for malnutrition.
