Angela Goethals

Angela Bethany Goethals (pronounced GOH-thəlz; born May 20, 1977) is an American actress who has worked across stage, film, and television. Born and raised in New York City, she is the daughter of Rosalind, a teacher who raised Goethals and her sister Sara. A descendant of George Washington Goethals, the chief engineer of the Panama Canal, she is also the namesake's great-great-granddaughter, with New York's Goethals Bridge bearing the family name. She attended Stuyvesant High School in New York City.

Goethals was introduced to the acting profession through Jeanie Hackett, an actress and family friend who brought her to auditions. At age nine, in 1986, she secured her first professional acting work as the understudy to Sarah Michelle Gellar in The Widow Claire, an off-Broadway play by Horton Foote. She subsequently appeared in a workshop production of Booth: A House Divided at The Players in New York City, playing the daughter of Edwin Booth, portrayed by David Strathairn.

Her Broadway debut came in 1987 with Coastal Disturbances, in which she played Miranda Bigelow. She returned to Broadway in 1992 as Halcy in Four Baboons Adoring the Sun, and in 1994 played Millie Owens in Picnic, completing a Broadway career that spanned from 1987 to 1994. Off-Broadway, she appeared in Approaching Zanzibar in 1989 as Pony Blossom, and in 1991 portrayed Edna Arkins in The Good Times Are Killing Me. That performance earned her both a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Play and the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress.

Goethals made her film debut in Rocket Gibraltar in 1988, with her sister Sara also appearing in the film in a small part. Later that year she appeared in Heartbreak Hotel, a film centered on the fictional kidnapping of Elvis Presley. In 1990, she played Linnie McCallister, the sister of Macaulay Culkin's character Kevin, in Home Alone. She was one of only three principal cast members who did not reprise their roles in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Her first starring television role came in 1993 with the ABC sitcom Phenom, in which she played Angela Doolan, a young tennis player navigating the pressures of competitive sport and adolescence. The series ran for 22 episodes before ABC cancelled it in May 1994. In 1996, she appeared in Jerry Maguire as Kathy Sanders, a client who feigns tears upon learning of Jerry's departure from the agency.

In 1999, Goethals graduated from Vassar College with a Bachelor of Arts in French. She returned to Los Angeles in February 2002 to resume her acting career. That year she starred as Polly in Porn 'n Chicken, Comedy Central's first original film, and also appeared in the sitcom Do Over as the sister of a lead character transported back in time to 1981. Between 2003 and 2004, she made guest appearances on Boston Public, Six Feet Under, and Without a Trace, and took a minor role in the Adam Sandler film Spanglish. In 2005, she made a recurring guest appearance on 24, playing Maya Driscoll, the mentally ill daughter of CTU Los Angeles Director Erin Driscoll. She subsequently appeared in episodes of Grey's Anatomy, CSI, and Crossing Jordan. In 2006, she starred in the black comedy horror mockumentary Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. Her final screen appearance was in the 2018 short film P.T.A-Holes.