Mariah Gale
Michael Gambon
Romola Garai
Jimmy Gardner
William Gaskill
John Gay
Peter Geddis
Pam Gems
The General from America
Jean Genet
Michel de Ghelderode
Ghosts
John Gielgud
The Gift of the Gorgon
Alexandra Gilbreath
Peter Gill
Jean Giraudoux
Iain Glen
Robert Glenister
Jamie Glover
Julian Glover
The Glowing Manikin
God Bless
Derek Godfrey
Patrick Godfrey
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Nikolai Gogol
Golden Girls
Carlo Goldoni
Stella Gonet
Good
Buzz Goodbody
Henry Goodman
Goodnight Children Everywhere
Rupert Goold
Marius Goring
Maxim Gorky
Gordon Gostelow
Orlando Gough
The Government Inspector
Fraser Grace
Nickolas Grace
Michael Grandage
Harley Granville-Barker
Günter Grass
Trystan Gravelle
Simon Gray
Great Expectations
The Great White Hope
The Greeks
Graham Greene
Paul Greenwood
David Greig
Richard Griffiths
Trevor Griffiths
Pippa Guard
Vladimir Gubaryev
Peter Guinness
Mike Gwilym
Of Russian and Polish Jewish heritage, Henry Goodman was brought up in Whitechapel, east London. At the age of ten he appeared in the film Conspiracy of Hearts (1960). He went to RADA and was taught by Steven Berkoff. There is a connection to be made between his early life working in Petticoat Lane market and the roles—fast-talking, streetwise New Yorkers—that made his name in the 1990s.
After RADA he married a South African and spent ten years teaching and acting in her country (he ran his own theatre). On their return he had to begin again. He started to make his mark as a supporting player at the RSC: Harry in The Time of Your Life (Howard Davies, TOP, 1983, Pit, 1984); Sir Thomas Lovell/Cranmer in Henry VIII (Davies, RST, 1983, Barbican, 1984); Dromio of Ephesus in The Comedy of Errors (Adrian Noble, RST, 1983, Barbican, 1984); Voltore in Volpone (Bill Alexander, TOP, 1983, Pit, 1984); Azhog/Stalin in Red Star (John Caird, Pit, 1984); Prince Henri DeConde in The Devils (John Barton, Pit, 1984); Grandpre/Le Fer in Henry V (Noble, RST, 1985); Paulina's Steward/Time in The Winter's Tale (Terry Hands, RST, 1986); Thomas Kitely in Every Man in His Humour (Caird, Swan, 1986, Mermaid, 1987); Fernando in Worlds Apart (Nick Hamm, TOP, 1986, Pit, 1987); and Rocky Gravo in They Shoot Horses Don't They? (Ron Daniels, Mermaid, 1987).
On leaving the Company he was in Gregory Motton's Downfall (Lindsay Posner, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 1988); Caryl Phillips's All or Nothing at All (Tricycle Theatre, 1989); and Berkoff's Kvetch (King's Head, 1991). When Sam Mendes's production of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins opened at the Donmar Warehouse in 1992 Goodman finally stepped forward as a virtuosic leading actor. Other leading American roles in musicals and modern classics followed—Buddy Fidler, the movie producer, in City of Angels (Michael Blakemore, Prince of Wales, 1993); Roy Cohn in Tony Kushner's Angels in America (Declan Donnellan, NT Cottesloe, 1993); Philip Gellburg in Arthur Miller's Broken Glass (David Thacker, NT Lyttelton, 1994, Duke of York's, 1995); Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls (Richard Eyre, NT Olivier, 1996); and Billy Flynn, the bent lawyer, in Chicago (1997). In 1999/2000, as a member of Trevor Nunn's NT Ensemble, he played a famous Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (Cottesloe and Olivier) and appeared in Summerfolk (Olivier). He also devised a late night cabaret called Metropolis Kabarett (Terrace Café, 2000). In 2003 he returned to the RSC to play the title role in Richard III (Sean Holmes, RST). Inspired by Victorian music hall and melodrama, Goodman's lunatic comedian had all the subtlety of the Joker in Batman. Other theatre work since 1990: Freud in Terry Johnson's Hysteria (Phyllida Lloyd, Royal Court, 1993, Duke of York's, 1995); Art on Broadway (Matthew Warchus, 1998); Pinter's The Birthday Party (Posner, Birmingham Rep and Duchess, 2005).
His screen work includes: Strauss in Simon Gray's Old Flames (Christopher Morahan, BBC, 1989); Josek in Murderers Among Us (TV, 1989); Queen of Hearts (1989); The Gravy Train Goes East (ITV, 1991); Son of the Pink Panther (1993); David Siltz in Cold Lazarus (BBC, 1996); Broken Glass (TV, 1996); Haffinger in Mary Reilly (1996); Moti in Private Parts (1997); Dr Lev Botvin in The Saint (Philip Noyce, 1997); the situation comedy Unfinished Business (BBC, 1998); Ritz Concierge in Notting Hill (1999); Dirty Tricks (ITV, 2000); Dalziel and Pascoe (BBC, 2001); The Final Curtain (2002); Joshua Jopp in The Mayor of Casterbridge (David Thacker, ITV, 2003); Foyle's War (ITV, 2003); and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (Stephen Hopkins, 2004).
Education: RADA
RSC: Joined 1983
Seasons: 1983 (Strat.)-84 (Lond.); 1985 (Lond.); 1986 (Strat.)-87 (Lond.); 2003 (Strat.)
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