After studied at Brandeis and LAMDA, Goldwyn made his film debut in "Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives" (1986) and then appeared as the brother of a handicapped girl in "Gaby--A True Story" (1987). But it was his turn as the duplicitous "best friend" Carl in the 1990 box-office smash "Ghost" that launched his feature career. The handsome, light-haired actor was cast alongside James Belushi in the thriller "Traces of Red" (1992). Among his more notable roles have been a smarmy presidential aide in "The Pelican Brief" (1993), a husband who orders a hit on his wife in the black comedy "Reckless" (1995) and Richard Nixon's beloved older brother, dying of tuberculosis, in Oliver Stone's "Nixon" (1995). More recently, Goldwyn was also the gay son trying to get his publisher father (Ron Rifkin) to become more commercially-inclined in "The Substance of Fire" (1996) and filmed supporting roles in the thrillers "Kiss the Girls" and "The Lesser Evil" (both 1997). He moved behind the camera to make his helming debut with "The Blouse Man" (1998). Goldwyn played a real-life American hero, astronaut Neil Armstrong, in the HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" (1998) and gave voice to a fictional pulp hero as the lead character in Disney's animated adaptation of "Tarzan" (1999). Goldwyn continued to deliver strong supporting performances in a variety of films, including the sci-fi thriller "The 6th Day" (2000), the romantic comedy "Bounce" (2000), the Hungarian film "American Rhapsody" (2001) and the thriller "Abandon" (2002). In 2002 he also had the title role in the indie "Joshua," which told the story of the possible second coming of Christ in a small town. Goldwyn would tackle his most high profile role in some years when he appeared as Tom Cruise's despised commanding officer Colonel Bagley in "The Last Samurai" (2003).
Frequently alternating his film appearances with stage and TV work, Goldwyn began onstage alongside Anthony Heald and Keith Szarabajka in the Off-Broadway play "Digby" (1985), set in the world of advertising. He had a featured role in the L.A. production of Tom Stoppard's award-winning "The Real Thing" (1985-86) and earned an OBIE Award for his turn as a gay man living with his father in the Australian comedy "The Sum of Us" (1990). A veteran of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Goldwyn made his Broadway debut opposite Laura Linney in a revival of Philip Barry's "Holiday" in 1995.
The small screen has often provided this reliable actor with good roles. In the 1988 premiere of the CBS sitcom "Murphy Brown", he played a politician literally caught with his pants down by Candice Bergen's title character. In a memorable episode of "Designing Women", Goldwyn was a dignified person with AIDS who hired the ladies to oversee his funeral. Usually cast as supportive officials, he has portrayed presidential press secretary Jody Powell in "Iran: Days of Crisis" (TNT, 1991) Clark Clifford, presidential advisor to Gary Sinise's "Truman" (HBO, 1995), and a social worker in charge of a halfway house for the mentally-challenged in "The Boys Next Door" (CBS, 1996).