[2] As a child she was inspired to become an actress after viewing The Sound of Music, before her family moved to New York where she was raised in the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn.
[2] After graduating from City College of New York with a degree in drama, Goodman spent seven years developing her one-woman show called Hazelle!
The show was adapted for the screen by HBO in 1995, and earned two Cable Ace nominations in the Best Comedy Special and Best Performer categories.
[2] Goodman also had a recurring role on Homicide: Life on the Street as Georgia Rae Mahoney, a key figure in a drug dealing family who is eventually murdered.
[4] She was also an original cast member of Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell, performing the late artists monologues that primarily dealt with adventure.