Henry Goodman

Henry Goodman is a British actor born on 23 April 1950 in London, England. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, which he entered in 1969, having previously attended the Central Foundation Boys' School. His career has spanned theatre, television, film, and radio across several decades.

Goodman's stage work in London established him as a significant presence in British theatre. In 1991, he originated the role of Roy Cohn in the world premiere of Angels in America, and the following year he portrayed Charles Guiteau in the London premiere of Assassins at the Donmar Warehouse, directed by Sam Mendes. That performance earned him the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 1993. He went on to play Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls at the Royal National Theatre in 1996, and Billy Flynn in the West End revival of Chicago in 1997, the latter earning him an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical in 1998. His portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice at the National Theatre, directed by Trevor Nunn, brought him a second Olivier Award, this time for Best Actor in 2000, along with a nomination for the London Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best Actor. He reprised the role for a television film released in 2004.

Goodman appeared on Broadway between 1998 and 2003 in three productions. He appeared in Art and starred in Tartuffe. He also briefly replaced Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock in The Producers in 2002, but was dismissed after one month due to creative differences with Mel Brooks, before returning to Broadway the following year for Tartuffe.

His West End work continued with the title role in Fiddler on the Roof at the Savoy Theatre in 2007. In 2010, he played Sir Humphrey Appleby in the stage version of Yes, Prime Minister, first at the Chichester Festival Theatre and subsequently at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End from 17 September 2010. In 2012, he took on the title role in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, performing first in Chichester and then in the West End, earning a nomination for the Theatre Awards UK for Best Performance in a Play. His work with the Royal Shakespeare Company includes Richard III in 2003 and, in 2015, the title role in Ben Jonson's Volpone, directed by Trevor Nunn and co-starring Matthew Kelly and Miles Richardson. In 2017, he played Lucian Freud in Looking at Lucian, written by Alan Franks, at the Ustinov Studio at Theatre Royal, Bath. In 2022, he portrayed Hercule Poirot in Ken Ludwig's adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express at the Chichester Festival Theatre and the Theatre Royal, Bath, receiving a nomination for a UK Theatre Award for the performance.

On television, Goodman played Dr. Robert Silwood in a 2001 episode of Dalziel and Pascoe and guest starred in the ITV series Foyle's War in 2003, portraying corrupt American industrialist Howard Paige in the opening episode of the show's second season. In 2010, he played Cecil Bernstein, co-founder of Granada Television alongside his brother Sidney, in The Road to Coronation Street. He took on the role of Sir Humphrey Appleby again in the 2013 remake of Yes, Prime Minister on the Gold television channel. He also played Dr. List, a character he first portrayed as a Hydra doctor in the 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, in the second season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and in the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron. His film credits also include a cameo as the Ritz concierge in the 1999 film Notting Hill. He played Mr. Fischer in the Christmas 2025 episode of Call the Midwife.

Goodman has been active in radio, particularly on BBC Radio 4. His credits include Pierre Beaumarchais in the 1996 series Beaumarchais, the recurring role of Melvin in The Attractive Young Rabbi from 1999 to 2002, Ghassan Mehmoud in a 2008 adaptation of Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now, and Leopold Bloom in an all-day adaptation of James Joyce's Ulysses broadcast on Bloomsday in 2012. He also served as narrator on the 2005 premiere recording by the Hallé Orchestra of the complete score of Vaughan Williams's The Wasps.

Goodman is Jewish and has five siblings. He is married to Sue Parker, a choreographer and dance director.