Daveigh Chase reportedly died after complications from bacterial meningitis and infection

Daveigh Chase, the former child actor best known as the voice of Lilo in Disney’s animated film Lilo & Stitch, has died at the age of 35.

Daveigh Chase reportedly died on Tuesday after complications from bacterial meningitis and a blood infection. Her father, John David Schwallier, confirmed the cause of death to The New York Times, according to reports.

The actor became widely known as a child star in the early 2000s, with roles that made her recognisable to both family audiences and horror fans.

Her most famous role came in Disney’s 2002 animated film Lilo & Stitch, in which she voiced Lilo, the orphaned Hawaiian girl who adopts a genetically engineered extra-terrestrial creature and names him Stitch.

Chase later returned to voice the same character in the spin-off television series, which first aired in 2003.

In the same year that Lilo & Stitch became a major animated success, Chase also appeared in one of the most memorable horror films of the decade.

She played Samara Morgan in the 2002 US remake of the Japanese horror film The Ring, starring alongside Naomi Watts, Brian Cox, Martin Henderson and David Dorfman.

Her performance as the terrifying child at the centre of the film earned her the MTV Movie Award for best villain.

Chase also voiced a leading role in the English-language version of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away. Her other screen credits included the 2001 film Donnie Darko and the 2003 television show Oliver Beene.

Her father told The New York Times that Chase had been homeless in Los Angeles with her boyfriend near the hospital where she died.

He also said she had struggled with drugs from the age of 13 and had been estranged from her divorced parents.

Schwallier said he had been in contact with Chase’s boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, and reached the hospital shortly before his daughter died.

Reports of her death prompted renewed attention on a career that began when Chase was still very young and placed her in several projects that became lasting parts of popular culture.

For many viewers, her voice remains closely tied to Lilo, one of Disney’s most beloved animated characters from the early 2000s.

For horror fans, she is remembered for creating one of the genre’s most unsettling modern villains in The Ring.

Although her later life was marked by reported personal difficulties, her work as a child actor left a significant impression across film and television.

Her death at 35 has drawn sadness from fans who grew up with her performances and continue to associate her voice and screen presence with some of the most recognisable films of that era.

Chase’s career connected family animation, fantasy storytelling and horror in a way few young actors experience.

From Lilo & Stitch to The Ring and Spirited Away, she contributed to films that reached audiences across generations and genres.

Her passing closes a painful chapter in the life of a performer who became famous early and whose most memorable roles remain part of modern screen history.cheffler and the rest of the chasing pack, the task is already clear.

They must find a way to close the gap on a former champion who looked sharp, composed and ready to turn a strong opening day into something historic.