Daveigh Chase
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Daveigh Chase is an American actress, singer, and voice over artist. She was born Daveigh (pronounced "Da-Vay") Elizabeth Schwallier on July 24, 1990 in Las Vegas, Nevada, but this was later changed to Daveigh Elizabeth Chase after her parents divorced. Chase lives with her mother Cathy Chase, is an only child, and was raised in Albany, Oregon, before moving to Los Angeles to pursue her career (although she does still spend much of her time in Albany). She wanted to perform from a very early age and began singing and dancing in her hometown and other local areas at community events and shows. One of the factors which inspired her was watching videos of Barney & Friends when she was 4 years old. "I wanted to be like them, the kids on the video," she later said. Her mother then entered her in a Little Miss America Pageant where Chase won the national vocal competition. Following her success, Chase was then signed by an agent who specialised in commercials and at the age of 7, she appeared in a Campbells Soup advertisement. In 1998, she landed a starring role as a mormon child in a musical theatre production called "Utah".
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[edit] Lilo & Stitch
Chase's big break came later in 1998 when she won the lead role as the voice of an Hawaiian girl, Lilo Pelekai, in the Disney animated feature, Lilo & Stitch. The film concerns how Lilo befriends a strange and destructive blue alien whom she calls "Stitch" and how she tries to teach him how to behave using Elvis Presley music as exemplars. The message conveyed throughout the film is essentially that families must remain united, that there is an innate goodness in all children, that people should take pride in their own culture, and the importance of good behaviour. For her performance, Chase would go on to win an Annie Award for it in 2003 and star in the follow up TV Series
[edit] Spirited Away
In 2001, Chase won the role as the voice of the lead character, Chihiro Ogino, a 10 year old Japanese girl, in the American dub of the animated Japanese feature, Spirited Away, a dark reworking of Alice in Wonderland. At the date of writing (9th July 2006), the Internet Movie Database rates the movie the best animated movie of all time and the 49th best film of all time. In the film, Chihiro and her parents accidentally drive into a spirit city. The parents are soon turned into pigs. At first frightened, Chihiro soon learns how to fight back and break the spell that has been placed on her parents. As well as being an adventure film, the most interesting aspect of it is the message which runs through Chihiro's journey of self discovery, that through hard work, fortitude, and determination, one can acquire the self confidence and assuredness to deal even with the most difficult of situations. Driving away at the end of the film (a scene which only appears in the Chase dub version), Chihiro's father asks her if she is up to the challenges of a new home and new school. A more self-confident Chihiro responds "I think I can handle it!" The film would go on to win the 2002 Best Animated Feature Oscar.
[edit] The Ring
In 2002, Chase starred in what is arguably her most famous role, that of Samara Morgan in The Ring. In the film, a reporter, Rachel, investigates the death of her niece, Katie, who died one week after watching a strange video. Rachel retraces Katies steps back to a cabin where she finds and watches the video in question and makes the connection between it, the death of Katie and others, and a strange phonecall that happens immediately after you watch the video where a little girl (Samara) says "seven days" and hangs up. Rachel then realises that she has just one week to unravel the mystery or die in the attempt if she fails, and that the key to resolving it lies in the video itself which contains a seemingly random series of disturbing, grainy black & white images. Enquiries result in Rachel learning of Samara Morgan who had been murdered by her adoptive parents who believed that she had driven her mother insane and brought about the deaths of several horses after rendering them suicidal. Rachel then discovers Samara's grave at the bottom of a well and arranges a proper burial which she assumes will put her spirit to rest. However, Samara kills again and Rachel realises that the only way to escape Samara is to duplicate the video and get somebody else to watch it, thus generating a seemingly endless macabre cycle. Chase was awarded the 2003 Best Villain award at the MTV Movie Awards for an excellent performance.
[edit] The Ring Two
In the follow up to The Ring, The Ring Two (2005), Chase was credited for her role as Samara Morgan because of the use of archive footage from the first Ring, but Kelly Stables performed all of the new footage.
[edit] Other Roles (2000-2005)
Chase's main other major film and TV credits between 2000-2005 were Donnie Darko (2001) as Donnie's younger sister, Samantha, and Oliver Beene (2003-2004), as Oliver's quirky girlfriend Joyce. Other credits include, The Rats (2002), Carolina (2003), R.L. Stine's Haunted Lighthouse (2003) in which she plays a flying ghost called Annabel, and Beethoven's 5th (2003). She also made guest appearances in Touched By An Angel, Charmed, ER, Family Law, and The Practice.
[edit] Big Love
Chase is currently appearing in the HBO drama series Big Love which centres around a polygamist, played by Bill Paxton, and his relationship with his 3 wives. Chase plays Rhonda Volmer, the child bride of a prophet, Roman Grant, who is played by Harry Dean Stanton.
[edit] Future Projects
As well as a second season of Big Love, Chase is also working on a new animation series called Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures. According to a press release, "told from a five-year-old's perspective, it is designed to solve problems related to a child's transition from the home to a school environment by making kids interested and excited about the kindergarten experience". Leroy & Stitch (2006), a follow up to Lilo & Stitch, has also just been released.
[edit] Singing Career
Chase is also a talented singer. In 1999, she joined a small band as lead singer and took the stage as the opening act for Reba McEntire. She was picked by Stephen Spielberg to sing "God Bless America" in A.I. (edited out of the final version of the film), and she sang "Holly Jolly Christmas" for the "Schools Out Christmas" album and "Tossin & Turnin" in the Oliver Beene episode "Oliver & Others".
[edit] Outside Interests
These include body boarding (a form of surfing), horse riding, dancing, reading, and writing song lyrics.
[edit] Trivia
- Her parents are Cathy Chase and John Schwallier
- At the age of 12, she beat out Mike Myers, Colin Farrell, Willem Dafoe and Daniel Day-Lewis to take home the award for Best Villain for her performance as Samara in The Ring at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards
- At the 2003 Academy Awards, both of the animated feature films that Daveigh was given the opportunity to voice the lead heroines, Disney's Lilo & Stitch and Miyazaki's Spirited Away, were nominated for the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar; Spirited Away won.
