Born and raised in London's East End, Henry Goodman began his professional career at age 10 when he was cast as one of a group of Jewish children smuggled out of a concentration camp in the WWII-era drama "Conspiracy of Hearts" (1960). Six years later, he directed the stage musical "Love from Judy" which featured his sister and twin brother in the cast. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and the Leeder School of Dance in Switzerland, Goodman headed to his wife's home of South Africa where he spent nearly a decade honing his craft and winning accolades as both actor and director. Returning to England in 1981, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and earned attention for his work in a 1983 staging of "The Comedy of Errors" and where he went on to distinguish himself in a variety of roles.

In 1989, Goodman made his big screen debut as a cab driver in the little seen "Queen of Hearts" and appeared on American TV in the HBO drama "Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story". Although he has occasionally appeared in other film and TV roles, most notably as an American media baron in the Dennis Potter-scripted miniseries "Cold Lazarus" (1996), the British sitcom "Unfinished Business" (1998) and the comedy "Notting Hill" (1999, as the concierge bussed by Hugh Grant after he reveals the whereabouts of movie star Julia Roberts), Goodman was best known as a stage performer. Equally adept at musical comedy and classical and contemporary plays, he distinguished himself in such roles as presidential murderer Charles Guiteau in "Assassins" (1992), closeted homosexual Roy Cohn in Tony Kushner's epic "Angels in America" (also 1992), Nathan Detroit in "Guys and Dolls" (1996) and slippery lawyer Billy Flynn in "Chicago" (1997). Goodman garnered rave reviews for his turn as Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice" (1999) under Trevor Nunn's direction and that performance was preserved in a 2001 TV adaptation. Just prior to accepting his breakthrough Broadway role in "The Producers", the actor received glowing notices as the crazed press secretary determined to protect the Prime Minister in "Feelgood" (2001).