Davey Chase said years before his tragic death at the age of 35, he knew he wanted to make a difference in people’s lives.
“I just want to make something that I love and that people respect,” the “Lilo & Stitch” voice actor told Interview magazine in 2009.
“I want to do something that will change someone’s life, but not something that will be forgotten tomorrow.”
In a short interview, she said that she was unlucky to have ended up in Hollywood in the first place. Her mother was injured in a car accident in Los Angeles in 1998 and was told she wouldn’t be able to drive for six months.
So instead of returning to her home in Albany, Oregon after a road trip, she began pursuing her acting dreams at the age of eight.
She eventually landed roles such as the voice of Lilo in Disney’s hit animated film Lilo & Stitch, the voice of Spirited Away in Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning film Spirited Away, and the voice of Samara, the child horror villain in The Ring, opposite Naomi Watts.
She also appeared in Donnie Darko as the sister of Jake Gyllenhaal’s title character and as the underage wife of a religious leader played by Harry Dean Stanton in HBO’s Big Love.
Chase’s boyfriend, a man named Roy Hernandez, told TMZ on Wednesday that Chase passed away at age 35 on Tuesday from a bout of meningitis and subsequent sepsis.
The newspaper reported that Chase was recently admitted to a Los Angeles hospital with malnutrition.
Shortly before Hernandez’s death, Hernandez set up a GoFundMe in her name, but the California Post reported Wednesday that Chase’s longtime manager, John Ryan, called for the move amid news of her death.
“Apparently, a man claiming to be her ‘boyfriend’ that none of our friends or her family have ever heard of has set up a GoFundMe ‘on behalf of her and her family’ and set her up as the organizer. I can confirm that Davey has set up a trust account with SAG to cover all expenses,” Ryan told the Post.
The outlet also shared images of the video, which was shot in late 2025, and said Ryan was informed of it before attempting to locate the actress and seek help.
The video, which has since been deleted from social media, showed a weakened Chase lying on the floor of a trailer or tent on Los Angeles’ notorious Skid Row.
Meanwhile, on social media, Chase’s fans took to the comment thread of her last post, a photo of her posing next to a unicorn balloon shared in 2017, to pay their respects.
“Rest in peace beautiful girl, you deserve better. Thank you for the nostalgia, your special words and voice that made these characters unforgettable in our lives. You left a mark on our hearts. God bless you and soar with the angels 💔🕊️,” one person said.
Others shared GIFs of Chase’s most famous role. One features an image from “Lilo & Stitch” and quotes one of the movie’s most memorable lines. “Ohana means family. Family means no one is left behind or forgotten.”
