Daveigh Chase, the former child actor who voiced the character of heroic Lilo in 2002’s acclaimed Lilo & Stitch and that same year was named Best Villain by MTV Movies Awards for her effectively creepy portrayal of the evil Samara Morgan in The Ring, died Tuesday of complications from meningitis. She was 35.
Her death was announced to TMZ by her boyfriend Roy Hernandez, who had just this week set up a GoFundMe page for the ailing Chase. Hernandez wrote that recently “Daveigh was diagnosed with meningitis and several serious blood infections. Her condition has become critical, and the doctors have told me she may not have much time left.”
Hernandez told TMZ that an infection in her blood caused “septic issues and led to her body shutting down.”
Deadline has reached out to a representative for Chase.
Born Daveigh Elizabeth Chase on July 24, 1990, in Las Vegas, and raised in Albany, Oregon, Chase had launched her career as a child actor by age 7, when she appeared in commercials and on stage. At 8, she began appearing on such TV series as Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, Charmed, The Practice and ER. In 2001, she was cast as Samantha Darko in Richard Kelly’s cult film Donnie Darko starring Jake Gyllenhaal in the title role.
She voiced the character of Chihiro Ogino in the 2001 English dub of the Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away, but her breakthrough and early signature role came in 2002 when she voiced one of the title characters in Disney’s Lilo & Stitch. Her performance as Lilo, an orphaned Hawaiian girl who befriends an extraterrestrial she mistakes for a puppy. Lilo names her new friend Stitch. Chase voiced the character in various sequels and the 2003-2006 TV series.
Also in 2002, Chase appeared in Gore Verbinski’s horror hit The Ring. As Samara Morgan, the lank-haired little girl dressed in white and possessing deadly supernatural powers, at just 12 years old Chase became the ghostly face of the film and its most recognizable character. She was named Best Villain at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards, beating out Spider-Man‘s Willem Dafoe, Gangs of New York‘s Daniel Day-Lewis, Daredevil‘s Colin Farrell and Mike Myers, who had portrayed both Dr. Evil and Goldmember in Austin Powers in Goldmember.
From 2006 to 2011, Chase recurred on HBO’s Big Love as young sociopath Rhonda Volmer, and in 2009 Chase reprised her role as Samantha Darko in the Donnie Darko S. Darko.
After appearing in Thomas Dekker’s 2016 horror film Jack Goes Home, Chase largely withdrew from acting. In the GoFundMe page, Hernandez refers to various difficulties encountered by the actor, including bullying and a falling out with her family. Chase, he writes, “struggled to find safety and happiness in downtown LA” but that the two “found moments of happiness and hope” until her recent health issues. According to TMZ, Chase was taken to a hospital earlier this month for malnutrition.
