The former child actor was also known for playing Samara Morgan in “The Ring” and appearing in HBO’s “Big Love.”
LOS ANGELES, CA — Daveigh Chase, the former child actor who voiced Lilo in Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” and played the ghostly Samara Morgan in “The Ring,” died June 16 at a Los Angeles hospital. She was 35.
Chase’s death drew wide attention because she had two of the most memorable child performances of the early 2000s, one warm and funny, the other chilling. Her father and people close to her said she died after complications tied to bacterial meningitis and a blood infection that led to sepsis. Her death also brought renewed focus to her later struggles, including reports that she had been hospitalized earlier in June for malnourishment.
Roy Hernandez, identified in several reports as Chase’s boyfriend, said Chase became critically ill after meningitis and a blood infection caused her body to shut down. He said she had been admitted to a Los Angeles hospital earlier in the month. John Ryan Jr., her longtime manager and friend, also confirmed her death and said Chase had been in poor health before the final infection. “She was the greatest,” Ryan said, remembering her as private, gentle and deeply attached to animals.
Chase was born Daveigh Elizabeth Chase-Schwallier on July 24, 1990, in Las Vegas and was raised in Albany, Oregon. She began performing as a child and moved into commercials and television before landing film roles. Her early credits included “Donnie Darko,” in which she played Samantha Darko, and guest roles on shows such as “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” “ER,” “Charmed” and “The Practice.” By age 12, she had become known in two major films released in 2002.
In “Lilo & Stitch,” Chase voiced Lilo Pelekai, a lonely Hawaiian girl who adopts a destructive blue alien and teaches him the meaning of family. The role made Chase a familiar voice to a generation of Disney viewers and led to more work in the franchise, including “Stitch! The Movie,” “Lilo & Stitch: The Series” and “Leroy & Stitch.” She also voiced Chihiro Ogino in the English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away,” another major animated film that reached American audiences during the same period.
Her other signature role came in “The Ring,” the 2002 horror film in which she played Samara Morgan, a dead child whose image on a cursed videotape terrorizes the characters. Chase’s performance became one of the film’s defining images. She won best villain at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards, beating several adult actors in one of the night’s most unusual categories. She later appeared in “The Ring Two” through archived footage and returned to the “Donnie Darko” world in “S. Darko.”
Chase continued acting into her teens and 20s, including a recurring role as Rhonda Volmer on HBO’s “Big Love.” The series, which ran from 2006 to 2011, followed a polygamist family in Utah and became one of the network’s major dramas of that period. Chase’s character, raised in a strict religious community, gave her another unsettling role after years of being associated with Samara. She also appeared in films including “Beethoven’s 5th,” “Yellow,” “Little Red Wagon” and “Jack Goes Home.”
In later years, Chase stepped away from steady screen work. Friends and former colleagues described periods when they could not find her or had only brief contact with her. Ryan said he had been working on a documentary called “Finding Lilo,” which was meant to trace her life and locate her after years away from public view. Reports after her death described her as having struggled with instability, addiction and homelessness, though some details of her final years remain unclear.
Chase’s mother, Cathy Chase, said she had not seen her daughter since a 2019 jail visit and had spent years trying to learn where she was. She said she first thought the news of her daughter’s death was false. “I am in so much pain,” she said in an interview after the death was reported. She rejected claims that she had given up on her daughter and said she had kept searching, even as their contact broke down.
No public funeral date or memorial service had been announced as of Saturday. Reports listed the date of death as June 16, and the cause was described by family members, Hernandez and Chase’s manager as complications from meningitis, a blood infection and sepsis. Further official records, including any final medical examiner filing, had not been widely released. Her survivors include her parents and relatives, along with friends and fans who followed her work from childhood.
Chase’s death leaves a sharp contrast between her early fame and her final years out of public view. For many viewers, she remains tied to Lilo’s fierce sense of family and Samara’s lasting place in modern horror. As of June 20, tributes continued to focus on those two roles and the short, intense career that made her widely recognizable before adulthood.
Author note: Last updated June 20, 2026.