What was Daveigh Chase’s Net Worth?
Daveigh Chase was an American actress, voice performer, and singer whose net worth was estimated at $3 million at the time of her death. She became widely recognized for a striking series of child-actor roles in the early 2000s, from voicing Lilo Pelekai in Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” and Chihiro in the English-language version of “Spirited Away” to playing Samantha Darko in “Donnie Darko” and the haunting Samara Morgan in “The Ring.” Before she had even reached her teenage years, Chase had already built a résumé spanning family animation, acclaimed anime dubbing, cult sci-fi, and major studio horror.
Her two signature performances showcased an unusual range. In “Lilo & Stitch,” Chase brought humor, vulnerability, and emotional depth to one of Disney’s most enduring young characters. In “The Ring,” she helped create one of the defining horror images of the 2000s as Samara, the eerie long-haired girl tied to the film’s cursed videotape. She later took on the role of Rhonda Volmer in HBO’s “Big Love,” playing a calculating teenager raised within a polygamist community. In later years, Chase largely retreated from high-profile acting work and lived a far more private, troubled life. She died in June 2026 at age 35.
Finances At Death
Following her death, longtime manager John Ryan alleged that Chase had left behind millions of dollars in unclaimed residuals and other entertainment-related earnings. Ryan said her original agreement for “Lilo & Stitch” was not limited to a standard one-time voice acting fee. According to him, the contract included compensation tied to residuals, merchandise, theme park usage, and additional products featuring her voice as Lilo.
Ryan claimed that SAG-AFTRA notices had continued arriving at his office for years, alerting Chase to residual checks that had not been collected. Speaking to The California Post, he said the unpaid total had grown into the millions, but alleged that Chase was either unable or unwilling to claim the funds while dealing with addiction, homelessness, and significant health challenges.
The claims underscored a painful divide between Chase’s lasting public image and the circumstances reportedly surrounding her final years. She was the voice behind one of Disney’s most cherished characters, a role that continued to hold cultural and commercial value long after the 2002 film’s release. Yet reports after her death described her as living in dire conditions in Los Angeles and being hospitalized for malnutrition shortly before she died.
Ryan also raised concerns about a GoFundMe reportedly launched by a man who identified himself as Chase’s boyfriend. He said Chase had a SAG-related trust account that could pay for final expenses and warned that her friends and relatives did not know the man behind the fundraiser. It remains unclear how much money was ultimately available to Chase’s estate, how much of the alleged unclaimed income can be recovered, or who will oversee those funds. Ryan said a performer’s next of kin can typically seek residual payments after death.
Early Life
Daveigh Elizabeth Chase was born July 24, 1990, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her birth name was Daveigh Elizabeth Chase-Schwallier, but after her parents’ divorce, it was changed to Daveigh Elizabeth Chase. She spent most of her childhood in Albany, Oregon.
Chase began performing when she was young and entered the professional entertainment world early. Before her breakout roles, she appeared in commercials, booked television guest spots, and took small film parts. Her early credits included appearances on “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” “ER,” “Touched by an Angel,” “Charmed,” and “The Practice.”
Early Acting Career
One of Chase’s first major film roles came in 2001, when she played Samantha Darko, the younger sister of Jake Gyllenhaal’s title character, in “Donnie Darko.” Though the movie was not a major box-office hit at the time, it developed a passionate cult following and became one of the most discussed films of the early 2000s.
That same period also brought Chase into voice acting. She voiced Chihiro Ogino in the English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away.” The film became one of the most acclaimed animated movies ever made, and Chase’s performance introduced her voice to an audience beyond traditional American animation.
“Lilo & Stitch”
Chase’s biggest family-film role came in 2002, when she voiced Lilo Pelekai in Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch.” The film followed a lonely Hawaiian girl who adopts a chaotic alien experiment she names Stitch. Chase’s performance helped make Lilo feel funny, strange, wounded, stubborn, and deeply lovable.
The movie became a major Disney hit and grew into a franchise. Chase continued voicing Lilo in several related projects, including “Stitch! The Movie,” “Lilo & Stitch: The Series,” and “Leroy & Stitch.” For her work in the original film, she won an Annie Award for voice acting.
The role remained one of Chase’s defining performances. For many viewers, her voice was inseparable from Lilo’s personality: emotional, eccentric, and fiercely attached to the idea of “ohana,” or family. Decades later, the continued popularity of the franchise also became central to the discussion of Chase’s finances, because her manager claimed she still had substantial unclaimed money connected to the role.
“The Ring”
Also in 2002, Chase appeared in “The Ring,” the American remake of the Japanese horror film “Ringu.” She played Samara Morgan, the ghostly child whose cursed videotape kills viewers seven days after they watch it.
Although Chase had limited dialogue in the film, her physical presence made the character unforgettable. The image of Samara crawling out of a television became one of the defining horror visuals of the decade. Chase’s performance earned her the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain, a rare honor for a child actor.
The success of “The Ring” made Chase recognizable to an entirely different audience than “Lilo & Stitch.” She became one of the few young performers whose most famous credits included both a beloved Disney heroine and a terrifying horror icon.
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“Big Love” and Later Roles
From 2006 to 2011, Chase played Rhonda Volmer on the HBO drama “Big Love.” The series centered on a polygamist family and starred Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny, and Ginnifer Goodwin. Chase’s character was manipulative, damaged, and unpredictable, giving her a more adult and complicated role than many of her earlier parts.
She later reprised the role of Samantha Darko in “S. Darko,” the 2009 sequel to “Donnie Darko.” Her other film credits included “Beethoven’s 5th,” “Carolina,” “Jack Goes Home,” “American Romance,” and “Killer Crush.” Though she continued to act into adulthood, her career slowed significantly after her early success.
Personal Life and Death
In later years, Chase lived a much more private life and was largely removed from the level of public visibility she had as a child star. Reports after her death described a painful final period marked by addiction, homelessness, severe health issues, and efforts by friends and loved ones to locate her and get her into treatment.
Chase died in Los Angeles in June 2026 at the age of 35. Her boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, told TMZ that she had suffered from meningitis, which led to a blood infection, sepsis, and organ failure. Reports also stated that she had been hospitalized earlier that month due to malnutrition.
Daveigh Chase’s career was brief but unusually impactful. Through “Lilo & Stitch,” “Spirited Away,” “Donnie Darko,” “The Ring,” and “Big Love,” she left behind a body of work that connected with audiences across animation, horror, cult film, and prestige television.
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