He was son of a clergyman of the same name at one time in Shaftesbury, Dorset, and on 18 March 1651 removed from the benefice of Freshwater, Isle of Wight, by order of the council of state.
Goodman then attached himself to the king's company at Drury Lane Theatre, and made a stage appearance as Polysperchon in the Rival Queens, or Alexander the Great, 1677.
As a proof of his poverty Cibber relates that Philip Griffin and "Scum" Goodman—"as he was styled by his enemies"—were driven to share a bed and shirt, and that a duel was fought on Goodman's appropriating the common clothing out of his turn.
His latter years were rendered more affluent by his becoming the lover of the Duchess of Cleveland, but he was detected in an attempt to poison two of her children, brought to trial for a misdemeanour, and fined heavily.
Out of gratitude to King James for sparing his life, Goodman became a Jacobite, and on the death of Queen Mary was connected with the Fenwick–Charnock plot to kill William III (1695–96).