Chase’s manager, John Ryan Jr, told the BBC last week that she died of sepsis after suffering meningitis in a Los Angeles hospital.
The former child star, also known as Davey Schwalier, began acting at age four and landed her first Hollywood job at seven, but retired from acting in 2015, her manager said.
Her first television role in Hollywood at age seven was a small role in Melissa Joan Hart’s hit sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
Chase’s Hollywood breakthrough came in 2001 when she appeared as Samantha Darko in Donnie Darko and later played the title character’s sister in the 2009 film S. Darko.”
In 2002, Chase starred as Samara Morgan, a long-haired ghost who crawls out of a television, in the horror film The Ring, an American remake of the Japanese classic about a videotape that causes people to die after watching it.
In 2003, she won an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain for her portrayal of a creepy, demon-like character who crawls on her hands and feet before killing her victims.
Also in 2002, she voiced Elvis-loving Hawaiian girl Lilo in the animated hit Lilo & Stitch.
The role earned her an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature, and she continued to voice the character in spin-offs.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Chase subsequently had numerous legal run-ins, including charges of drug possession and joy-driving in a stolen car.