Daveigh Chase, Voice of Lilo in 2002 Film Lilo & Stitch, Dies at 35

Daveigh Chase, who voiced the title character in the 2002 animated film “Lilo & Stitch,” died June 16 at age 35 after battling drug addiction and homelessness on Skid Row. By the time she reached the hospital in the days before her death, Chase weighed as little as 75 pounds, according to TMZ.

A video taken months earlier showed her lying on the floor of a tent in Skid Row, appearing severely underweight.

An outreach advocate told The California Post he saw her grow thinner each time he encountered her. Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, the film’s directors, posted an unsigned-caption illustration on Instagram showing the character Lilo wiping a tear from his eye while feeding a fish a peanut butter sandwich. The image carried both directors’ signatures.

Sanders told Hawaii Public Radio in 2022 that casting the voice of Lilo had been difficult until Chase auditioned. “That was a very, very difficult voice to cast… And one day this girl came in, and her name was Daveigh Chase,” he said. “She sat at the microphone, and she started doing her thing.

Chase’s manager, John Ryan, said he had been trying to locate her during her struggle with addiction. “We were so close to finding her,” Ryan told the New York Post. “Daveigh was the sweetest and brightest light in Hollywood.

I can’t believe this is real. ” Ryan also stated that a GoFundMe campaign launched by Roy Hernandez, who claimed to have been dating Chase at the time of her death, is not legitimate. Chase’s breakthrough role in “Lilo & Stitch” led to a media franchise that included a live-action remake released in 2025.