Chase’s father, John David Schwallier, told the New York Times at the time of her death that she had been homeless and living in Los Angeles with her boyfriend before her passing.
The former child star began acting at four years old, booking her first Hollywood job when she was seven, but she retired from acting full time in 2015, her manager said.
Her first TV role in Hollywood at age seven was a small part in the popular Melissa Joan Hart-led 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 titular character’s sister in the 2009 film S Darko.
In 2002, Chase starred as Samara Morgan, the long-haired ghost that crawls out of the telly in the horror film The Ring, an American remake of the Japanese classic about a videotape that makes people die after they watch it.
She earned a 2003 MTV Movie Award for best villain for her turn as the spooky demon-like character that crawls on its hands and feet before killing victims.
Also in 2002, she voiced the Elvis-adoring Hawaiian girl Lilo in the animated hit Lilo & Stitch.
The part earned her an Annie Award for best voice acting in an animated feature production and she continued to voice the character in spin-offs.
