Daveigh Chase, The Ring, Lilo & Stitch And Spirited Away Star, Dies Aged 35

Former child actor Daveigh Chase has died at the age of 35.

Daveigh was most recognisable for her work as Samara Morgan in the English-language remake of the horror film The Ring.

She also lent her voice to Lilo in the Disney movie Lilo & Stitch and its many spin-offs.

The award-winning actor’s manager said earlier this week, as reported by BBC News, that Daveigh had been admitted to hospital.

NBC News reported that Daveigh died as a result of complications from bacterial meningitis and sepsis.

Her father told the US outlet that the performer, who retired from acting just over a decade ago, had been homeless and living near the hospital where she died in Los Angeles, having also been suffering from severe malnutrition when she was admitted to hospital.

After a string of roles in shows like Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Charmed and ER, Daveigh was cast as Jake Gyllenhaal’s on-screen sister in the thriller Donnie Darko, with her character subsequently landing her own straight-to-video spin-off, S Darko.

She went on to provide the voice of Chihiro in the English re-dub of Studio Ghibli’s classic Spirited Away, the same year she began playing Lilo for Disney.

From there, she was cast as the unsettling Samara, reprising the role 2005’s The Ring Two.

Daveigh later portrayed Rhonda Volmer in the US drama Big Love, sharing the screen with the likes of Bill Paxton, Chloë Sevigny and Amanda Seyfried.

Her final on-screen roles were in the indie horror Jack Goes Home and the thriller American Romance, after which she took a step back from acting.

In a statement to BBC News, Daveigh’s manager remembered her as “the greatest”.

“She was not very Hollywood,” he recalled. “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.”