In 2005, she landed a recurring guest appearance on 24, and also gained recognition and critical acclaim for her starring role in the black comedy horror mockumentary Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006).

She was a cheerleader at Stuyvesant High School and was introduced to the acting world by actress Jeanie Hackett, a family friend, who took her to several auditions.

In 1986, at the age of nine, she got her first professional acting job, as the understudy to Sarah Michelle Gellar in The Widow Claire,[4] an off-Broadway play written by Horton Foote.

In 1999, Goethals graduated from the private liberal arts college, Vassar, with a bachelor's degree in French, in which she is fluent, and she rode in the IHSA Zone II Region 1 at the Advanced Walk-Trot-Canter level.

[6] named for the club at Yale University that made headlines in 2001 when members announced plans to make their own porn film.

Between 2003 and 2004, Goethals made guest appearances on single episodes of Boston Public, Six Feet Under and Without a Trace, as well as playing a minor role in the Adam Sandler romantic comedy, Spanglish.