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Former child actor Daveigh Chase, best known for her roles in “Lilo & Stitch” and “The Ring,” has died.
She was 35.
Chase died Tuesday in a Los Angeles hospital, her father, John Schwallier, confirmed. Schwallier said in a text message to NBC News that his daughter died of complications of bacterial meningitis and a blood infection. He added that she was suffering from severe malnutrition.
She was homeless and living in Los Angeles near the hospital where she died, the Los Angeles General Medical Center, according to her father.
Chase starred in Disney’s hit movie “Lilo & Stitch” in 2002 as the voice of the film’s lead character, Lilo.
The film follows Lilo, a young Hawaiian girl who adopts what she thinks is a dog but is actually a genetically engineered alien named Stitch.
She also starred in the television series adaptation of the film, “Lilo & Stitch: The Series” from 2003 to 2006.
Also in 2002, Chase starred in the hit horror film “The Ring,” playing the terrifying child ghost Samara, who would haunt viewers of a cursed VHS tape.
The next year, Chase won the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain for her work in the role.
She also starred in “The Ring Two” in 2005, reprising her role.
The New York Times reported that Chase was living with her boyfriend before her death, but her father was unclear what the extent of his daughter’s relationship was with the man.
“I don’t know how much of a boyfriend he was to her,” he said in a text message. “I seen a video of her in September. I don’t know why he wasn’t getting her medical help then.”
John Ryan Jr., who managed Chase for 15 years, said she was one of his “best friends for almost 20 years,” and that she was “the easiest celebrity” he ever worked with.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former child actor Daveigh Chase, known for her youthful voice in Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” and her villainous performance in the thriller “The Ring,” has died. She was 35.
Chase’s father, John David Schwallier, confirmed to The New York Times she died from complications of bacterial meningitis and a blood infection. She had been homeless in Los Angeles with her boyfriend near the hospital where she died, he told the newspaper.
TMZ first reported Wednesday that Chase died Tuesday.
She voiced the lead role of Lilo in the 2002 animated film, a role she auditioned for at age 8. Years later, a Hawaiian actress was cast as Lilo for the live-action remake.
For her role as long-haired Samara in the 2002 horror film, Chase won an MTV movie award for best villain.
Chase also voiced another lead in the 2001 animated film “Spirited Away.” She had roles in the 2001 movie “Donnie Darko” and the 2003 show “Oliver Beene,” according to internet movie database IMDb.com.
She was born in Las Vegas and raised in Albany, Oregon. In her small hometown, she began singing and dancing at age 3, according to IMDb.
Chase struggled with drugs since she was 13 years old, Schwallier said in an interview with the Times. He said his daughter was estranged from her parents, who are divorced.
Schwallier said he was in touch with Chase’s boyfriend, and just before she died, arrived at the Los Angeles hospital where she was being treated.
An online fundraiser by her boyfriend raised about $4,000 as of Thursday. “Many people know her as a talented childhood actor from ‘Lilo & Stitch,’ ‘Spirited Away,’ and ‘Donnie Darko,'” the fundraiser post said. “But behind the scenes, she’s faced more than her share of hardship.”
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The Ring and Lilo & Stitch actress Daveigh Chase dies aged 35
Daveigh Chase, the horror actress who crawled out of a TV in The Ring and voiced Lilo in Disney's animated Lilo & Stitch, has died aged 35.
Chase, who also voiced Chihiro in the English version of Spirited Away and starred in the cable drama Big Love, died from sepsis after suffering from meningitis in a Los Angeles hospital, her manager John Ryan Jr confirmed to BBC News.
Ryan said on Wednesday that Chase had been admitted to hospital for malnourishment before her death.
The former child star began acting at 4 years old, booking her first Hollywood job when she was 7, but she retired from acting full time in 2015, he said.
"She was the greatest. She loved cats. She worked with cat rescues with us. She was very to herself, " said Ryan, her friend and manager of 15 years, noting that Chase would often retreat to her home in Las Vegas for years at a time and turn down big studio films to do independent projects.
"She was not very Hollywood," he said. "She'd rather eat at Bob's Big Boy and go home with the cats. She loved acting but wasn't into the fame scene."
Chase, who kept homes in Nevada and downtown Los Angeles, started acting in Las Vegas around age 4 doing voiceover work and theatre.
She landed her first TV role in Hollywood at age 7, booking a small part in the popular Melissa Joan Hart-led American sitcom Sabrina The Teenage Witch.
Her Hollywood breakthrough came in 2001 when she appeared as Samantha Darko in Donnie Darko and later played the titular character's sister in the 2009 film S Darko.
Chase was further immortalised in film in 2002 as Samara Morgan, the long-haired ghost that crawls out of the telly - in the horror film The Ring - an American remake of the Japanese classic about a videotape that makes people die after they watch it.
She earned a 2003 MTV Movie Award for best villain for her turn as the spooky demon-like character, that crawls on her hands and feet before killing victims.
Chase said she had fun playing such an evil character.
"It is not your typical character. Usually they are looking for a happy-go-lucky kid, but Samara was a pretty interesting character to play. I just kind of took my own voice and put this freaky twist on it," she told the Los Angeles Times in 2002.
That same year, she voiced the Elvis-adoring Hawaiian girl Lilo in the animated hit Lilo & Stitch. The part earned her an Annie Award for best voice acting in an animated feature production and she continued to voice the character in later spin-offs.
Her resume also includes single-episode roles in the TV dramas Charmed, ER and Touched by an Angel. Chase also had a 32-episode stint in the HBO polygamy drama Big Love, playing child bride Rhonda Volmer.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Chase had a slew of legal run-ins later in life, including being charged with drug possession and joyriding in a stolen car.
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