Actress Daveigh Chase, who broke into the film industry as the voice of Lilo in Disney’s animated feature “Lilo & Stitch,” has died at the age of 35.
Chase, who also gave a terrifying performance as the ghostly Samara Morgan in “The Ring,” had been struggling with addiction for years and had recently been hospitalized in Los Angeles due to malnutrition, according to entertainment news site TMZ . The outlet reported that Chase’s boyfriend Roy Hernandez said she had contracted meningitis and an infection in her blood that led to sepsis.
Chase had numerous credits to her name — and had millions in uncollected residuals, according to her longtime manager John Ryan. Ryan told The California Post that the deal Chase had signed when she got the role of Lilo — at just eight years old — had included residuals and a cut of any future toys or theme park attractions that featured her voice. That money, which has continued to roll in, was apparently left uncollected as she was “too far gone” to accept her payments.
Ryan managed Chase’s career for more than ten years, and said that based on the number of residual checks he’d been notified about suggest that the actress likely left millions untouched. Believing that she was hooked on fentanyl and heroin, Ryan and Chase’s stepsister Gaia Brown attempted to find her — and even brought in a private investigator to help them.
When a 2025 video on social media purported to show her, emaciated and barely conscious on Skid Row, they went to get her in the hopes of putting her in treatment. Ryan said he even spoke to her briefly by phone, but when they got to Skid Row, she was already gone.
“We were so close to finding her. Daveigh was the sweetest and brightest light in Hollywood. I can’t believe this is real. Her legacy and work will live on forever,” Ryan said.
Chase’s final role was in 2016’s “American Romance.”
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