From Albany to Hollywood: Remembering Daveigh Chase
This one hits close to home in a few different ways...
While we try to stay “Corvallis,” this one hits close to home and deserves a selfish write-up. For a lot of us, especially those who grew up in the early 2000s, Daveigh Chase was a familiar face long before most people knew her name.
Daveigh was raised close to here in Albany… and she made it. The actress, best known for her roles in The Ring, Donnie Darko, and Disney’s Lilo & Stitch, sadly passed away this past week at the age of 35.
Although Chase was born in Las Vegas in 1990, she was raised in Albany, where she began singing and performing at a young age. Her talent quickly became apparent, leading to opportunities in commercials, television, and eventually feature films.
Her breakout year came in 2002.
That year, Chase voiced Lilo in Disney’s animated hit Lilo & Stitch, introducing her voice to millions of people across the globe. In the same year, she appeared on the opposite end of the cinematic spectrum, portraying Samara Morgan, the haunting young girl at the center of the horror blockbuster The Ring. Remember The Ring?! The performance terrified audiences and broke records at the box office.
Movie fans may also remember Chase from Richard Kelly’s cult classic Donnie Darko. She played Samantha Darko, the younger sister of Donnie, portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal. Though her role was a supporting one, the film would go on to become one of the most discussed and loved cult movies of the early 2000s. If you have never seen Donnie Darko, we would highly recommend it.
Maybe Darkside Cinemas will bring that one back? Or The Ring?
Daveigh Chase in her breakout role as Samara in the 2002 horror film “The Ring.” Handout Credit: DreamWorks Pictures
Beyond those roles, Chase lent her voice to the English-language version of the Academy Award-winning animated film Spirited Away and appeared in numerous television productions, including HBO’s Big Love. By her teenage years, she had already built a résumé that many actors spend a lifetime trying to achieve.
For me, the news hit a little closer to home.
We are a group of local writers with vastly different journalism backgrounds. From public relations agencies, to hard news, to first in catastrophe coverage in third-world countries.
Long before The Inquirer, my past journalism life was working as an entertainment photojournalist in Los Angeles. During that time, I covered red carpets, movie premieres, and private events. Daveigh was one of the actresses I photographed on at least 50+ occasions, and over the years… I spent more time around her than most people would probably expect.
Back then, she was simply one of the many young performers navigating Hollywood. Publicist in hand. Like countless child actors, she was growing up in front of cameras while trying to figure out who she was off-screen. I spent countless hours with her on red carpets, waiting for her walk, talking to her, or her publicist, or posing her at gifting suites before awards shows.
Today, having lived in Corvallis for a long time, writing about Daveigh, it feels strange to see those worlds intersect.
Life has a way of connecting chapters that seem completely unrelated at the time. The story of a young actress I once photographed at movie premieres and Nylon magazine parties now becomes the story of a local native whose roots were just a few miles down the road.
Before she became the voice of Lilo, the terrifying face from a cursed videotape, or Samantha Darko in one of cinema’s most enduring cult classics, Daveigh Chase was growing up in Albany. Figuring out who she was and realizing her dreams. She is a success story. By her own definition.
Daveigh leaves behind a body of work that continues to entertain, frighten, and inspire new generations of viewers. Let’s be honest, they don’t make a lot of movies now… like they did back then. Covid hit, studios merged, Hollywood shut down, and Netflix evolved.
Life is full of adventures, whether you stay in one place or explore the world outside of it. Daveigh had dreams and a vision, and she made them happen outside of my now-home. That is one of the many things she should be remembered for. Daveigh can be a lesson that life is short, and another lesson that dreams can come true.
She was always polite, soft-spoken, and humble. She will be missed. But not forgotten.
A photo of Daveigh I shot in August of 2007, at an LA Confidential Magazine Party in Malibu:
This article was written by Derek S., a writer for The Corvallis Inquirer. Feel free to send us your stories or articles to publish at: editor@corvallisnow.com
Do you have a story for The Inquirer? Email: editor@corvallisnow.com
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