Voice of Lilo, Star of The Ring: Daveigh Chase Dies at 35

Daveigh Chase, the voice behind Disney’s beloved Lilo in Lilo&Stitch and the haunting Samara in The Ring, has died at 35. Her boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, confirmed the news to TMZ on June 17, 2026, revealing that Chase had been battling meningitis and a serious blood infection in the days leading up to her death.

The timeline is heartbreaking in its swiftness. Just hours before she passed on June 16, 2026, Hernandez launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover her medical costs, writing that her condition had become critical and doctors believed she may not have much time left. In the post, Hernandez described Chase’s lifelong struggles—a difficult childhood, a painful falling out with her family, bullying, and years of instability in downtown L.A.—before their relationship gave her moments of hope and safety.

Chase rose to prominence in the early 2000s as a child voice actor, bringing Lilo to life in Disney’s Lilo&Stitch and voicing Chihiro Ogino in Spirited Away. Her onscreen work was equally memorable: the creepy, unforgettable presence of Samara in The Ring became iconic, and she appeared in HBO’s Big Love and other projects until her final credit in 2016. In a 2009 profile with Interview, she expressed her creative ambitions plainly:“I just want to make something that I love and people will respect. I want to do things that will change someone’s life, not something they’ll forget about tomorrow.”

Meningitis—inflammation of the protective membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord—paired with sepsis, a life-threatening response to infection, can deteriorate rapidly. Hernandez’s GoFundMe post painted a picture of a woman who’d endured far more than her public persona suggested, someone who deserved stability and peace but found herself facing a medical crisis with limited resources.

Her last Instagram post, from 2017, showed her smiling with a unicorn balloon and the caption,“Unicorns DO exist 😻.”It’s a small detail, but it lingers—a reminder that behind the haunting performances and beloved voice work was a person searching for magic and lightness in her own life.