Daveigh Chase, Samara of 'The Ring' and voice of Lilo, dies at 35

Health decline and death

Daveigh Chase, the actress who terrified audiences as Samara in the 2002 horror film The Ring and voiced Lilo in Disney's Lilo & Stitch, died on 16 June 2026 at age 35. Her boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, told TMZ she died of sepsis following meningitis. Her long-time manager, John Ryan Jr., confirmed to the BBC that she had been hospitalised in Los Angeles earlier in June for malnutrition before her condition worsened.

“She was the best. Loved cats. Worked with us on cat rescues. Was very reserved.”

A career launched in childhood

Chase began performing around age 4 in Las Vegas, doing dubbing and theatre. At 7 she landed her first Hollywood television role, a guest spot on the sitcom Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. Her breakthrough came in 2001 when she played Samantha Darko in the cult psychological thriller Donnie Darko, a role she would reprise in the 2009 sequel S. Darko.

The year 2002 proved career-defining. She originated the voice of Lilo, the Elvis-loving Hawaiian girl, in the animated hit Lilo & Stitch, a performance that earned her an Annie Award for outstanding voice acting. She would return to the character in several sequels and spin-offs.

Samara: The iconic horror role

That same year, Chase became permanently etched into cinema history as Samara Morgan, the long-haired ghost who crawls out of a television set in the American remake of the Japanese classic The Ring. Her chilling portrayal, crawling on hands and feet before killing her victims, won her the 2003 MTV Movie Award for Best Villain.

“It's not a typical character. They usually look for a carefree, cheerful child, but Samara was a very interesting character to play. I just used my own voice and gave it a spooky touch.”

The scene of Samara emerging from the television remains one of the horror genre's most recognised images, and Chase's appearance was used as archive footage in sequels from 2005 and 2017.

Beyond those marquee roles, Chase voiced Chihiro in the English dub of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away and appeared in 32 episodes of the HBO polygamy drama Big Love as Rhonda Volmer. Her final screen credit was the 2016 thriller Jack Goes Home. In 2015 she retired from full-time acting.

A private life away from Hollywood

Chase maintained homes in Las Vegas and downtown Los Angeles, but by all accounts she actively avoided the spotlight. Ryan, her manager of 15 years, described her as a quiet, cat-loving person who would retreat to Nevada for extended periods and turn down major studio films to pursue independent projects.

“She wasn't very Hollywood. She preferred to eat at Bob's Big Boy and go home with her cats. She loved acting but didn't like the fame environment.”

Her later life was marked by health troubles and, according to some reports, legal difficulties and periods of homelessness. Days before her death, her boyfriend had launched a GoFundMe page to raise funds for her comfort.