Daveigh Chase, the former child actor best known for voicing Lilo in Disney’s Lilo & Stitch and playing Samara Morgan in The Ring, has died. She was 35.
Chase died from complications related to bacterial meningitis and a blood infection, according to reports. The Associated Press reported that her father, John David Schwallier, confirmed the cause as complications from bacterial meningitis and a blood infection.
Chase became widely known to audiences in 2002, when she voiced Lilo Pelekai in Disney’s animated hit Lilo & Stitch. That same year, she terrified moviegoers as Samara Morgan in Gore Verbinski’s horror film The Ring, one of the defining studio horror hits of the early 2000s.
Her other credits included the English language voice of Chihiro in Spirited Away, Samantha Darko in Donnie Darko, and appearances in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, ER, The Practice, Touched by an Angel, Big Love and Oliver Beene.
Born in Las Vegas and raised in Albany, Oregon, Chase began performing at a young age. She broke into the industry as a child and quickly built a résumé that spanned animation, horror, television, comedy, and drama.
Her final screen credit was the 2016 thriller American Romance.
In a 2009 interview with Interview magazine, Chase spoke about wanting her work to have staying power. “I just want to make something that I love, and people will respect,” she said. “I want to do things that will change someone’s life, not something they’ll forget about tomorrow.”
News of Chase’s death has prompted renewed attention to the range of her early work. For many viewers, she remains inseparable from two very different but unforgettable performances: the spirited, emotionally rich voice of Lilo and the haunting image of Samara in The Ring.
Chase leaves behind a body of work that made a lasting impression on a generation of moviegoers who grew up with her voice, her face, and her ability to move between warmth and terror with startling ease.
RIP, Daveigh.
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