Henry Goodman

Henry Goodman (born 23 April 1950) is a RADA trained British actor.

He has appeared on television and radio, in film and in the theatre.

He attended the Central Foundation Boys' School and joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, in 1969.

His awards include the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical playing Charles Guiteau in Assassins at the Donmar Warehouse directed by Sam Mendes in 1993, and the Olivier Award for Best Actor for Shylock in The Merchant of Venice at the National Theatre directed by Trevor Nunn in 2000.

He portrayed Pierre Beaumarchais in the BBC Radio 4 series Beaumarchais in 1996, "Melvin" in The Attractive Young Rabbi (BBC Radio 4, 1999-2002) and Leopold Bloom in BBC Radio 4's all-day adaptation of James Joyce's Ulysses for 'Bloomsday' in 2012.

He has also played author and chemist Primo Levi and a large number of other, often Jewish, characters on Radio 4.

He has also been nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 1998 for Chicago, London Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best Actor (The Merchant of Venice), and Theatre Awards UK for Best Performance in a Play in 2012 (The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui).

In his autobiography, Antony Sher says Goodman's Shylock is "quite simply the best".

In 1999 Goodman played a memorable cameo role as the Ritz concierge in Notting Hill.

He briefly replaced Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock in The Producers in 2002, but was fired after one month due to creative differences with Mel Brooks.

The following year he returned to Broadway in Tartuffe.

In 2003 Goodman guest starred in the ITV series Foyle's War as corrupt American industrialist Howard Paige in “Fifty Ships”, the opening episode of Season 2 of the British TV crime drama set in WWII.

His previous RSC appearance was in 2003 as Richard III.

He reprised his role for a television film which was released in 2004.

Goodman is Jewish.

He has five siblings.

He is married to Sue Parker, a choreographer and dance director.

Sources: Rotten Tomatoes TCM AllMovie

In 2010 he played the role of Sir Humphrey Appleby in the stage version of Yes, Prime Minister at the Chichester Festival Theatre and later at the Gielgud Theatre, in London's West End from 17 September 2010.

In 2012 he played the title role in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui in Chichester and then in the West End to critical acclaim.

In 2013 he played the role of Sir Humphrey Appleby in the remake of Yes, Prime Minister which was launched on the Gold television channel.

Goodman appeared on Broadway in three shows.

He portrayed a Hydra doctor in the 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, though he was not listed in the credits.

In 2015 he played the title role in Ben Jonson's Jacobean comedy Volpone at the Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by Trevor Nunn and co-starring Matthew Kelly and Miles Richardson.

He played the character again, now named Dr. List, on the second season of the TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and in the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Goodman is also a respected radio actor.

In 2017 he played Lucian Freud in Looking at Lucian, written by Alan Franks, at the Ustinov Studio at Theatre Royal, Bath.

Of this part, he said "I share an intense hunger to want theatre to be as meaningful as he wanted painting to be."

In 2022, he played Hercule Poirot in Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express at the Chichester Festival Theatre and the Theatre Royal, Bath.

He was nominated for a UK Theatre Award for his performance.