From "Daveigh Chase, ‘Lilo & Stitch’ Voice Actor and ‘The Ring’ Villain, Dies at 35" (NYT). Chase died of "complications of bacterial meningitis and a blood infection" while she was "homeless and living in Los Angeles with her boyfriend."
June 19, 2026
"['The Ring,'] a remake of a Japanese film, 'Ringu,' received mixed reviews, but the image of Samara crawling through a blurry television screen became seared in the cultural memory..."
"... and Ms. Chase won the award for best villain at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards.
That year she returned to Lilo in the sequel 'Stitch! The Movie' and in the 'Lilo & Stitch' TV series, which ran from 2003 to 2006.
She then transitioned to her biggest TV role yet. In HBO’s 'Big Love' — which chronicled the trials and tribulations of Mormon polygamists — she starred as Rhonda Volmer, a cunning 14-year-old bride in waiting, in 32 episodes between 2006 to 2011...."
UPDATE, June 30, 2026: Now, the report is that Daveigh Chase died of AIDS.
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30 comments:
Good old Hollywood.
Was her boyfriend homeless? Because, if not, then she was just living with her boyfriend.
It's both shocking and shockingly common when someone achieves fame and fortune early only to wind up poor, even destitute, later.
The term "struggled with drugs' for "drug addict" is always quaint.
The notability of this particular death, beyond the usual, eludes me.
But, whatever - RIP insignificant, weird TV monster, drug addict woman.
Californicated
That is so sad. She was quite good in “Big Love.”
Ah, and her death is a good excuse to plug more of Mr meades dawn wildlife videos... never change professor. Addicted to begging for the coin... "good girl". It's always a woman, sometimes with artistic talents of her own, puffing the work of the men around her...
My boy reads books, listens to songs and has opinions... a woman died, here's what my hubby shot this am. Accolades please!
You dont see it, huh?
The term "struggled with drugs' for "drug addict" is always quaint.
The struggle always ends in futility because the user is unwilling to reform his behavior, so no actual struggle, just a performance for the social workers.
It is interesting how often child actors that worked with Disney seem to have problems as young adults. In addition, she came from a broken home, lived with her mom during her most productive acting years, yet upon her death, the only family member mentioned in Wikipedia being involved in handling her post-mortem arrangements is her dad.
IMDB suggests she hasn't worked since 2016, but most of her work was prior to 2006, when she was 16 and under. As noted, she worked on "Big Love" until 21. Once 21, since only worked 9 gigs (in comparison, she worked that many in 2001 when she was 11). By 2017, her rap sheet begins with multiple arrests.
Are we still blowing up drug boats?
Ice Nine said...The term "struggled with drugs' for "drug addict" is always quaint.
They are two different things. Did she try (and fail) to stop? If yes, then she struggled with drugs. If no, then she was a drug addict.
I asked Grok:
Yes, very much so—and more aggressively than before.
Since September 2025, the US military (including the Navy, along with Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard support) has been conducting lethal strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean (especially off Venezuela) and the eastern Pacific as part of Operation Southern Spear.
Key details: Dozens of strikes: Reports as of mid-June 2026 put it at 60+ strikes on ~64 vessels, killing over 200 people (estimates range from 207–210+).
These are often “go-fast” boats, low-profile vessels, or semi-submersibles used by traffickers (sometimes called narco-subs).
The US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) publicly announces many of them, sometimes with video of boats being hit and destroyed.
Strikes have continued into June 2026, with recent ones in the eastern Pacific killing 1–3 people per incident.
Good.
It's interesting this topic has fallen out of the news. Americans must support these strikes and Dems must feel they don't benefit from opposing them.
I'll wait for Variety's obit in which her family remembers 'her burning hatred for Trump'.
Maybe it's just me, but there seem to be a lot of sudden deaths among young entertainers and athletes (but I repeat myself) nowadays.
In most cases, like this one, I don't know of the deceased or their work until they are dead.
A scary little girl crawled out of my TV one time. I just about had a heart attack. But she wasn't there to kill me or drag my soul to hell or anything. She was selling Girl Scout Cookies. Under the circumstances, it made sense to order the Samoas.
Tim, while I would agree there is a distinction to be made between "struggling with drugs" and being "drug addicted"; my understanding of people with addictions is they have addiction. They can try to stop, and some succeed, but the addiction is there if ever they take it back up. In Chase's case, she seemed to be still taking drugs with no evidence provided that she struggled not to take them, which I think makes Ice Nine's comment accurate. She was addicted to drugs both in the sense that she had an addiction and she was using up to her hospitalization prior to death.
Bob Boyd wins at 10:24a
We could reduce horror film deaths by 99% if the victims were just taught to run away, turn on the lights, and don't go in the cellar.
Gosh, it's almost as if Hollywood chews up and spits out young, aspiring thespians. There must be a rather large supply of potential victims, er, I mean "talent" out there. I'm willing to bet that things haven't changed much since Garland was strung out on uppers/downers as a teenager by her Hollywood mogul bosses, except the drugs have become much more potent and the addiction sets in almost immediately. Ask anone who has used fentanyl or any of the other designer drugs out there. I mean, ask them if you can communicate with them while they're in a fenty bend. Kids, don't do drugs.
And if you hit them with a 2x4 and they go down, don't drop the 2x4 and turn your back on them. At a minimum, use the 2x4 to completely destroy their skull.
According to IMDB, she stopped working in the industry about 10 years ago. That's very strange for a successful voice artist like her. The thing about voice artists is that they're sometimes able to work from home via the internet. Also, when she left voice acting, AI voices hadn't started replacing human voices yet. IMDB doesn't make any reference to why she quit working in the industry 10 years ago, but her bio made it sound like she had simply gone back to Oregon to be with family.
"Child Actor Syndrome" is now a thing, though it's not yet in DSM.
I didn't know she was in both roles- I was familiar with both "The Ring" and "Big Love". Tragic ending for her- she was very good in "Big Love".
Leland said...Tim, while I would agree there is a distinction to be made between "struggling with drugs" and being "drug addicted"; my understanding of people with addictions is they have addiction.
True, "struggling with drugs" is a sub-category of "drug addict" rather than an entirely separate thing and maybe I should have said that. My objection was about characterizing struggling with drugs as a mere euphemism.
I sleep better knowing we don't have VHS players and picture tube televisions anymore.
Samara wouldn't fit inside a flat panel or DVD, much less through a coax cable or wifi.
Drugs may be the single most destructive thing in the modern world. That's why China uses it to kill out people and weaken our society.
She was great as Donny Darko’s little sister. Drug addiction ruined a promising career. She should have gotten help when she unceremoniously dropped an unconscious man who was ODing off at the hospital door and left him there. She was stunningly beautiful before drugs wracked her body. In recent photos she looked like a death camp survivor - malnourished and losing her hair. Very sad news.
A homeless addict in LA? Huh. Who'd have seen that coming?
I wonder if "Child Actor Syndrome" is found in other countries or if it's strictly a California thing. I suspect in less developed countries, acting roles and money are less available, so pressures and expectations are lower and opportunities for excess are fewer, and child actors fade back into the general population, rather than going down in flames.
This must be the most dispiriting Althouse comment thread I've read in a long time.
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