Disaster Actress Daveigh Chase Dead at 35 - Starred in 'The Ring,' Voiced Lilo in 'Lilo & Stitch'

Actress Daveigh Chase Dead at 35​

By TMZ Staff
Published June 17, 2026 9:53 AM PDT | Updated June 17, 2026 12:27 PM PDT


Daveigh Chase -- the former child actress -- is dead ... TMZ has learned.

The actress' boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, tells TMZ ... Daveigh died Tuesday from meningitis and an infection in her blood, which caused her to have septic issues and led to her body shutting down.



Alamy
We're told Daveigh had been admitted to a hospital in Los Angeles earlier this month because of malnutrition.

Daveigh caught her big break in Hollywood early on ... voicing Lilo in the hit Disney film "Lilo & Stitch" back in 2002 and the follow-up TV show. She also voiced Chihiro Ogino in the American dub of "Spirited Away."


Horror movie fans will recognize her from her haunting performance as Samara Morgan ... the main antagonist in the hit 2002 film "The Ring" ... for which she won an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain.

Beginning in 2006, Daveigh earned a recurring role in the HBO series "Big Love" ... which follows a fundamentalist, polygamist Mormon family. She played Rhonda Volmer in 32 episodes of the hit show during its five-season run.


Her other credits include ... "Donnie Darko," "Beethoven's 5th," "Sabrina the Teenage Witch," "ER," "Mercy," and more.

Daveigh had numerous run-ins with the law over the years, which we've covered.


Play video content
NOVEMBER 2012

THE LAST TIME WE SAW HER
Video: The Last Time We Saw Daveigh Chase
TMZ.com
We last caught up with Daveigh in 2012 ... when we asked her about her makeup habits -- and she told us about her latest project.

Daveigh was 35.

RIP

 

[vanilla_pepsi_head]

She was admitted for malnutrition, aka anorexia, earlier in the month. She skellied herself to death. Sepsis was just the final thing that got her. There's a lot of ways that can go.

Going to hazard a guess that meningitis/sepsis was the result of IV drug use, lots of people slamming fentanyl and crushed pills or whatever with old needles and bad hygiene end up hospitalized frequently or dead from this. Symptoms probably weren't apparent until it was too late because being a fent zombie or in an eternal k-hole makes it hard to tell at first. "Malnutrition" may or may not be because she had anorexia independent from this but being hospitalized for dehydration/malnutrition after finally collapsing because you forgot to eat or drink during a week long bender is also not uncommon.

It should serve as yet another cautionary tale to act as a deterrent for stage parents, but it won't.

 

[Dragged Into Sunlight]

Going to hazard a guess that meningitis/sepsis was the result of IV drug use, lots of people slamming fentanyl and crushed pills or whatever with old needles and bad hygiene end up hospitalized frequently or dead from this. Symptoms probably weren't apparent until it was too late because being a fent zombie or in an eternal k-hole makes it hard to tell at first. "Malnutrition" may or may not be because she had anorexia independent from this but being hospitalized for dehydration/malnutrition after finally collapsing because you forgot to eat or drink during a week long bender is also not uncommon.

It should serve as yet another cautionary tale to act as a deterrent for stage parents, but it won't.

Correct!

 

[BobsSpergers]

Back in November a rumor was going around that Daveigh Chase was found living in skid row addicted to fent.
The video is shit but it certainly looked like her. There was no confirmation. I found her personal facebook and the last uploaded selfie she had a similar blonde bowl-cut.

I thought to myself, she's gonna die within the year. After that P. Diddy video went viral I knew the story. Young girl gets passed around by hollywood pedophile monsters and falls into drug addiction to ease the pain. I love The Ring and grew up with Lilo and Stitch and I even have a soft spot for S Darko...for some reason.

RIP. Another young life taken by Hollyweird.

 

[Haramburger]

Enjoyed Ring, Donnie Darko & Sabrina, sad to hear Hollyweird took its pound of flesh from her.

 

[Rome's rightful successor]

Is there any child actor that doesn't become a mess?
Also explains dying from septic shock.
People in a first world country just ignoring an infection is wild

Macaulay Culkin mostly, the cast of both versions of Willy Wonka, and I think most of the Goonies.

 

[babyDunk]

Rest in Peace

 

[Rome's rightful successor]

Back in November a rumor was going around that Daveigh Chase was found living in skid row addicted to fent.
The video is shit but it certainly looked like her. There was no confirmation. I found her personal facebook and the last uploaded selfie she had a similar blonde bowl-cut.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=C9DexwGjtH4Ver archivo adjunto 9159610Ver archivo adjunto 9159613Ver archivo adjunto 9159617
I thought to myself, she's gonna die within the year. After that P. Diddy video went viral I knew the story. Young girl gets passed around by hollywood pedophile monsters and falls into drug addiction to ease the pain. I love The Ring and grew up with Lilo and Stitch and I even have a soft spot for S Darko...for some reason.

RIP. Another young life taken by Hollyweird.

That is such of a horrible way to go, may God accept her soul in Heaven.

 

[Rome's rightful successor]

From the cartoon 4chan thread

 

[Waffle Iron]

So child stars end up drugged up and dead not because fame fucks them up, but because predators fuck them up. They should lynch all these creeps.

 

[6 Years Ago]

Is there any child actor that doesn't become a mess?

Jason Bateman seems pretty solid. He's a really good actor too.

 

[frozen_runner]

This story is just depressing. Poor thing.

RIP.

Jason Bateman seems pretty solid. He's a really good actor too.

His sister is fucking awesome, too. She's a director and speaks her mind about Hollywood's many failings.

 

[Atlas Sneezed]

Macaulay Culkin mostly,

Wasn't he fucked up for decades because of alcoholism? Of course it's great that he finally went straight and is now living a fulfilling life but as far as I remember it took him a long while to get there

 

[The Dude]

Wasn't he fucked up for decades because of alcoholism? Of course it's great that he finally went straight and is now living a fulfilling life but as far as I remember it took him a long while to get there

Getting married and having kids really helped him to find his center and keep his shit together. For most of his life he did not want to have kids because of how poorly his own parents, especially his father, treated him and his siblings. He was terrified that he would do the same to his own kids if he had them. Then he met his wife, they had their first kid, and he realized the cycle can end with him instead of continuing with him and he has dedicated himself to being a good father.

 

[Moon Pie]

Is there any child actor that doesn't become a mess?

Elijah Wood comes to mind. He discussed this very issue when one of the countless Hollywood molestation scandals came out and said he was very lucky, and had a caring supportive family that made sure he didn't end up in those kinds of situations.

 

[Super Guido]

Is there any child actor that doesn't become a mess?
Also explains dying from septic shock.
People in a first world country just ignoring an infection is wild

I think Mara Wilson made it out rather okay, for the same reason @Moon Pie said about Elijah Wood.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

I have it on VHS.

even a week later?

 

[REGENDarySumanai]

even a week later?

I have it somewhere.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

I have it somewhere.

now that I think about it you could probably do a Ring movie where the antagonist is some serial killer going around forcing the video on people, like s/he got cursed and then passed it on and now just keeps copies around to show people and kill them because lol

 

[Phalanges Mycologist]

Damn adult meningitis is a horrible way to go, growing up a kid in my schools mum contracted it an she was never right after she went a bit nutty but I am not shocked because it essentially cooks your brain an one of her eyes never dilated correctly after either so in daylight was massive in low light pin prick.

Also it's sad to see what Hollywood continues to do to Child actors, I know there are supposedly legal protections in place for them and there are and there are some people like Danny Devito and Jean Renau who are really on the ball about looking out for any kids they work with (especially Jean Renau who watched Natalie Portman like a haw after there was issues on the set) but it's such a fucked up industry I can't imagine letting any child work in it.

 

[Vyse Inglebard]

Is there any child actor that doesn't become a mess?

One just hit me. The kid who played George in the Stuart Little movies. I looked him up, expecting him to be yet another sorry statistic, but....no, surprisingly.

He's apparently a trained martial arts practitioner with a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He's still acting too. Although I suppose there is a small price to be paid for his relative stability.....

In 2021, following an uptick in antisemitic attacks, Lipnicki teamed up with security firm Magen Am to escort Jews to synagogues.