Daveigh Chase, who as a child actress starred in Lilo & Stitch, The Ring, and Donnie Darko, died of AIDS in connection with drug use, according to a medical report released Monday.
A Los Angeles County deputy medical examiner named the cause of death for the 35-year-old as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, the condition caused by H.I.V., with “chronic polysubstance use” as a significant condition experienced by Chase, who also went by Daveigh Schwallier as listed on the medical report. Chase died in a hospital on June 16th, the medical report said.
The Centers for Disease Control define polysubstance use as the use of multiple drugs at the same time or within a short period.
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Multiple news organizations had reported that Chase was homeless toward the end of her life and was living near the hospital where she died. At the time of her death, it was reported that relatives said Chase had meningitis and a blood infection.
Chase started acting at about 8 years old, appearing in television shows like Sabrina the Teenage Witch and ER. She earned a role in the 2001 film Donnie Darko as the main character’s little sister. Probably her biggest role was as the voice of young Lilo in Disney’s Lilo & Stitch from 2002, a part she would play again in spinoffs such as Lilo & Stitch: The Series, which ran for 67 episodes.
She entered the cultural zeitgeist with her acting in the 2002 horror film The Ring as Samara, the stringy-haired, ghoulish child crawling out of televisions, a performance that haunted the country. She also starred in four seasons of HBO’s Big Love as a teenage bride of a polygamist cult leader. Her final movie role was in the 2016 indie thriller American Romance.