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

 

[General Patton]

How did a fairly young white woman die of AIDS? Was it not diagnosed????

Drug and needle use. Skid Row is seriously littered with drug needles.

 

[KiwiFuzz2]

Drug and needle use. Skid Row is seriously littered with drug needles.

I'm not asking how she got it, I'm asking how it progressed without anyone intervening.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

I'm not asking how she got it, I'm asking how it progressed without anyone intervening.

because somebody would have asked how she got it

this whole thing has bugged me more than I expected, I wasn't really into Lilo and Stich but I got gifted that hula girl happy meal toy of Lilo and I still have it around on my work desk because it's a wiggle hula girl but it's Disney so it's quasi-wholesome, but now I just keep staring at it thinking about that clip of Diddy and Ashton Kutcher

 

[General Patton]

I'm not asking how she got it, I'm asking how it progressed without anyone intervening.

Living on Skid Row will do that to you. And being a drug addict will keep you out of touch with loved ones.

Her mother hadn't heard from from her since 2019 and she found out her daughter died from the news.

I suspect Daveigh had no idea.

 

[KiwiFuzz2]

I'm not asking how she got it, I'm asking how it progressed without anyone intervening.

About 4,500 people die of AIDS in the US every year.

At this point, it's not something people just up and die of.

 

[General Patton]

About 4,500 people die of AIDS in the US every year.

At this point, it's not something people just up and die of.

Most people also don't get Typhus but homeless people on Skid Row have.
You can die from AIDS if you don't get HIV treated.

This isn't that shocking. Homeless people don't take care of themselves.

 

[Fanatical Pragmatist]

Gay cancer/ GRIDS will never be cool. You can only catch it if you are a drug addict or faggot who takes it up the ass/ injects meth into their cock.

Or let's men cum in your ass/pussy for money so you can pay for drugs to inject into you.

Even then I wonder how many men actually got AIDS from their drug needles versus how many got AIDS from what they did to afford drugs and just blamed it on the needles.

 

[Obnoxious Asshole]

About 4,500 people die of AIDS in the US every year.

At this point, it's not something people just up and die of.

I'm disappointed that the gay cancer turned into the fuck flu. That little bastard was dropping people faster than a concentration camp when it had its debut. Now it's a line item on a pharma corp's P&L statement.

 

[General Patton]

Even then I wonder how many men actually got AIDS from their drug needles versus how many got AIDS from what they did to afford drugs and just blamed it on the needles.

I knew a guy who got Hepatitis C from heroin, so I figured this is common.

You're sharing blood with sick junkies.

 

[Fanatical Pragmatist]

I knew a guy who got Hepatitis C from heroin, so I figured this is common.

You're sharing blood with sick junkies.

I'm not doubting it happens, I just wonder what the actual ratio if it is.

 

[Super Guido]

I knew a guy who got Hepatitis C from heroin, so I figured this is common.

You're sharing blood with sick junkies.

I was under the impression Hepatitis B and C were way more common when sharing needles than HIV/AIDS? That's not to say it's impossible, of course. Typical rate is 0.3 percent chance, but someone with a high viral load has a 5 percent chance.

Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8544719/

 

[Weeby Catto]

how do she get homeless at 13? Do kids not stay with their parents??

 

[General Patton]

I was under the impression Hepatitis B and C were way more common when sharing needles than HIV/AIDS? That's not to say it's impossible, of course. Typical rate is 0.3 percent chance, but someone with a high viral load has a 5 percent chance.

Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8544719/

There was a reason "Heroin" used to be one of the H's back when HIV was more common. Even if it was common more with sex, it still was caused by massive Heroin usage and being careless with needles.
Look at what happened to Gia Carangi. I'm not even disagreeing. I just know that in Skid Row, both drug use and sex leads to stuff like this. Skid Row is so damn dirty. Literal used needles all over the place.

how do she get homeless at 13? Do kids not stay with their parents??

Probably because drug use.

To be honest, Skid Row is such a filthy disgusting needle and rat filled hell hole that I' am surprised more homeless drug addicts don't die from AIDS just by living in it.

 

[Obnoxious Asshole]

There was a reason "Heroin" used to be one of the H's back when HIV was more common.

The three Hs were a wild mnemonic. "Heroin, Homosexuals and Haitans"

 

[Dysnomia]

Christina Ricci, maybe? She went off the rails with being a skelly for some time but seems to have sorted herself now (good Lord I had such a girl crush on her in Casper).

She had on and off eating disorders for years and was berated by Vincent Gallo for not being thin enough when they filmed Buffalo 66. It messed with her head. He's such a gross creep.

Living on Skid Row will do that to you. And being a drug addict will keep you out of touch with loved ones.

Her mother hadn't heard from from her since 2019 and she found out her daughter died from the news.

I suspect Daveigh had no idea.

It's the sad reality for a lot of addicts living like that.

Wasn't that the same series that had like....Tonya Harding

Looking back on it, Daveigh barely did anything after what....Ring 2 in 2005? Or at least Lilo in anything L&S?

Her last movie was Jack Goes Home with Rory Culkin. It's a trauma dump psychological horror with a pretty fucked up story about Jack being raped by two male babysitters when he was five and ending up schizo because of it. It's fairy decent but you'll want to smack Jack and his mother into next Tuesday for most of the movie. They're both pretty obnoxious personality wise. Also Rory Culkin does gay stuff in it.

 

[KiwiFuzz2]

The three Hs were a wild mnemonic. "Heroin, Homosexuals and Haitans"

ACKSHULLY it was 4Hs:

Hemophiliacs.

So don't fuck any pasty, inbred people.

 

[Obnoxious Asshole]

ACKSHULLY it was 4Hs:

Hemophiliacs.

So don't fuck any pasty, inbred people.

They didn't focus on the weak blooded when they did the AIDS Awareness tours. We were taught to fear the needle wielding black junkie faggots without focusing on the various failures of the wise white men in ivory towers.

 

[General Patton]

She had on and off eating disorders for years and was berated by Vincent Gallo for not being thin enough when they filmed Buffalo 66. It messed with her head. He's such a gross creep.

Ugh. I can't stand that guy. He's always creeped me out.

ACKSHULLY it was 4Hs:

Hemophiliacs.

So don't fuck any pasty, inbred people.

Yep. I had a BIL who got HIV because he was one.

 

[KiwiFuzz2]

They didn't focus on the weak blooded when they did the AIDS Awareness tours. We were taught to fear the needle wielding black junkie faggots without focusing on the various failures of the wise white men in ivory towers.

We were taught to fear the penis of the faggot.

The faggot comes in the form of the cute, shredded twink smiling at you from the corner of the clurb and asking if you want to go party with Tina.

The faggot is basically Satan in this parable.

Want an apple, kid?

 

[queue-anon]

Most people also don't get Typhus but homeless people on Skid Row have.
You can die from AIDS if you don't get HIV treated.

This isn't that shocking. Homeless people don't take care of themselves.

I imagine you'll speedrun a death from AIDS when you're undernourished and living among people who have fucking typhus.

She had on and off eating disorders for years and was berated by Vincent Gallo for not being thin enough when they filmed Buffalo 66. It messed with her head. He's such a gross creep.

Ricci was so cute in that movie. Speaking of Gallo, I saw him once when I lived in NYC. The grease in his hair could have fueled Americans' homes through an entire winter.