Daveigh Chase, former child star of 'Lilo & Stitch,' 'Spirited Away' and 'The Ring,' dead at 35

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Former child star Daveigh Chase, who established a varied career with a haunting turn as Samara Morgan in “The Ring” and as the bighearted outcast Lilo in Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch,” has died.The actor’s father, John David Schwallier, confirmed to the New York Times that Chase died in a hospital of complications from bacterial meningitis and a blood infection.

TMZ first broke the news of Chase’s death on Wednesday, citing the actor’s boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, who said the actor also dealt with septic issues before her death.Additionally, Chase battled with drug addiction and was homeless before her death.

She was 35.Chase began her Hollywood career in the late 1990s with minor roles in popular TV series including “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” “Charmed” and “ER,” and would go on to star in multiple beloved movies at the turn of the century.

In 2001 cult classic “Donnie Darko,” she was Samantha, the younger sister to Jake Gyllenhaal’s troubled Donnie Darko.She would reprise the role eight years later for the sequel, “S.

Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale” Entertainment & Arts Discovered by Duke Ellington, the musician was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2019.The same year as “Donnie Darko,” Chase lent her voice to the American dub of Hayao Miyazaki’s tender “Spirited Away,” voicing its brave and stubborn protagonist Chihiro.The film won the animated feature prize at the 2003 Academy Awards.

Chase gained a reputation for her range, further supported by roles in “Lilo & Stitch” and “The Ring” in the same year.In the former, she voiced the Elvis-loving Lilo who finds the solution for her outcast status in a mischievous alien.

That performance earned Chase an Annie Award for voice acting in an animated film in 2003 and secured her the lead voice-acting role in Disney Channel’s follow-up series....