Goldman was raised in a liberal, middle-class family in north London, the only child of a Jewish father, Stuart and a Buddhist mother, Amanda.

Rotten Tomatoes consensus says: "With a strong script, stylish direction, and powerful performances from its well-rounded cast, X-Men: First Class is a welcome return to form for the franchise.

[19] She continued to work in adaptations, and was also a co-writer with Vaughn and Peter Straughan for the 2011 drama-thriller The Debt, which was based on the 2007 Israeli film HaHov and directed by John Madden.

Goldman also adapted for Hammer The Woman in Black, a gothic horror film based on Susan Hill's novel.

[23] She is credited on X-Men: Days of Future Past, the sequel to First Class, as writing the story with Matthew Vaughn and Simon Kinberg.

[24][25] After that project, she co-wrote with Vaughn the script for Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015), based on the comic book by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons.

[26] She wrote the script for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an adaptation of the Ransom Riggs novel of the same name, which was directed by Tim Burton.

... Weirdly, years later I was on a film jury together with the producer whom I had read had the rights and I asked him whatever happened to the adaptation and said that I loved the book.

[29] Goldman worked with George R. R. Martin, the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, the series of novels upon which the original show is based[30] and Game of Thrones showrunners D. B. Weiss and David Benioff would also be executive producers for whichever project.

[30][31] In June 2018, it was confirmed that Goldman's pilot had been greenlit by HBO, and would focus on "the world's descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour", thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones.

[33] In December 2017, Goldman was announced as the writer of Disney's live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, with Rob Marshall being eyed to direct.

Goldman co-wrote the 2020 adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's Gothic romance Rebecca, directed by Ben Wheatley.

[36] Alongside her husband, broadcaster Jonathan Ross, Goldman appeared as a character in Neil Gaiman's short story "The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch" in 1996.