Daveigh Chase dies at 35 after battle with meningitis
Daveigh Chase, the actress best known for her roles in The Ring and Lilo & Stitch, has died at the age of 35. She passed away in a Los Angeles hospital after developing sepsis following a bout with meningitis, her longtime manager confirmed to the BBC.
How Chase died
Chase’s manager said she had been hospitalized after contracting meningitis, a serious infection that causes inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Her condition deteriorated when sepsis set in — a life-threatening response to infection that can cause organ failure and death if it progresses rapidly. Despite treatment at the Los Angeles facility, she didn’t survive. She was 35 years old.
Sepsis kills approximately 270,000 people in the United States every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s one of the leading causes of death in hospitals nationwide.
A career that started young
Chase was just 11 years old when she landed the role that would define much of her career. In 2002, she played Samara Morgan in Gore Verbinski’s horror film The Ring — the pale, unsettling figure crawling out of a television set that left audiences genuinely terrified. That same year, she voiced Lilo in Disney’s animated classic Lilo & Stitch, a film that went on to gross over $273 million worldwide and became a beloved staple of early 2000s pop culture.
The dual roles made her one of the most recognizable child performers of her generation. But the transition from child star to adult actress proved difficult, as it does for so many in Hollywood.
She also appeared in the HBO series Big Love, playing Rhonda Volmer across multiple seasons, and had various film and television credits throughout the 2000s and 2010s.
Tributes begin to pour in
News of her death spread quickly across social media, with fans sharing clips and memories from her most iconic roles. Many remembered her performance in The Ring as genuinely frightening — a testament to her ability at such a young age.
A representative for the Screen Actors Guild expressed condolences, saying: “We are deeply saddened by the loss of Daveigh Chase. She brought remarkable talent to some of the most memorable films of her era, and she will be greatly missed by the industry and by audiences around the world.”
Still, the details of how quickly she was taken are striking. Chase was only 35.
What comes next
No formal memorial arrangements had been announced as of the time of publication. Her family has asked for privacy as they grieve. A new Lilo & Stitch live-action film is currently scheduled for release in 2025, which will inevitably bring renewed attention to Chase’s original voice work and the legacy she leaves behind.
And that legacy, for all its complications, is real. Two iconic roles. Millions of childhoods shaped by her performances. She won’t be forgotten easily.
