Hazelle Goodman

{{Infobox person | name = Hazelle Goodman | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | othername = | birth_date =  | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | alma_mater = | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1991–present | spouse = }}

'''Hazelle Goodman''' (born '''Hazel Goodman'''<ref name="night">{{cite news |title=A Night Out With -- Hazelle Goodman; 'Cymbeline' By Way Of Trinidad |author=Alex Kuczynski |newspaper=New York Times |date=August 30, 1998 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/30/style/a-night-out-with-hazelle-goodman-cymbeline-by-way-of-trinidad.html |accessdate=January 6, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251102203744/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/30/style/a-night-out-with-hazelle-goodman-cymbeline-by-way-of-trinidad.html |archive-date=November 2, 2025}}</ref>) is an actress from Trinidad and Tobago.<ref name="up"/>

==Early life== Goodman was inspired to become an actress after viewing ''The Sound of Music'' as a child, before her family moved to New York, where she was raised in the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. After she was not accepted to the High School for the Performing Arts, she focused on fashion and obtained a degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She worked at an answering service and in retailing before she decided to return to acting by enrolling in the City College of New York.<ref name="up"/>

== Career ==

After graduating from City College of New York with a degree in drama, Goodman spent seven years developing her one-woman show, ''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.<ref name="best">{{cite web |url=http://www.bestoftrinidad.com/profiles/goodman.html |title=Hazelle Goodman |author= |date= |work=Best of Trinidad |publisher= |accessdate=January 6, 2010}}</ref>

In 1997, she became the first black actress to have a prominent role in a Woody Allen film when she portrayed Cookie, a prostitute in Allen's ''Deconstructing Harry''.<ref name="up">{{cite news |title=Up and Coming: Hazelle Goodman; Seriously Set On Being Funny |author=Ann Kolson |newspaper=New York Times |date=December 14, 1997 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/14/movies/up-and-coming-hazelle-goodman-seriously-set-on-being-funny.html |accessdate=January 6, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527060332/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/14/movies/up-and-coming-hazelle-goodman-seriously-set-on-being-funny.html |archive-date=May 27, 2015 }}</ref>

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.

On stage, in addition to her one-woman show, she has also portrayed the Queen in Shakespeare's ''Cymbeline'' and took part in the February 10, 2001 staging of Eve Ensler's ''The Vagina Monologues'' at Madison Square Garden. Goodman wrote and starred in a second one-woman show called ''To the Top, Top, Top!''<ref name="village">{{cite news |title=Love the One You Are |author=Francine Russo |newspaper=Village Voice |date=August 31, 1999 |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-08-31/theater/love-the-one-you-are/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019155120/http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-08-31/theater/love-the-one-you-are/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 19, 2012 |accessdate=January 6, 2010 }}</ref> She was also an original cast member of ''Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell'', performing the late artist's monologues that primarily dealt with adventure.<ref name=spalding>{{cite news |title=A Master of Monologues, Living on in His Words |author=Ben Brantley |newspaper=New York Times |date=March 7, 2007 |url=http://theater.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/theater/reviews/07gray.html |accessdate=January 6, 2010 }}</ref>

== Filmography ==

===Film=== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- |1991 |''True Identity'' |Miles' Neighbor #1 | |- |1995 |''Heat'' |Hooker's Mother | |- |1997 |''White Lies'' |Coffee Shop Waitress | |- |1997 |''Deconstructing Harry'' |Cookie | |- |1999 |''Just One Time'' |Lesbian Book Group Leader | |- |2000 |''Chinese Coffee'' |Café Dante waitress | |- |2001 |''Hannibal'' |Evelda Drumgo | |- |2003 |''Crossing'' |Mother |Short film |- |2005 |''All the Invisible Children'' |Ms. Wright |Segment: "Jesus Children of America" |- |2011 |''Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'' |Hazelle Black | |- |2019 |''Brooklyn Love Stories'' |Evelyn |Segment: "Celeste" |}

===Television=== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- |1995 |''Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child'' |The Woodcutter's Wife (voice) |"Rapunzel" |- |1997-98 |''Homicide: Life on the Street'' |Georgia Rae Mahoney |Recurring role |- |2000 |''Ed'' |Ramona |"Better Days" |- |2001 |''Sounds from a Town I Love'' | |TV short |- |2001 |''Third Watch'' |Rita Golden |"He Said/She Said", "Childhood Memories" |- |2004 |''Law & Order'' |Mrs. Gordon |"Can I Get a Witness?" |}

== References == {{Reflist|2}}

== External links == *{{Official website|http://www.hazelle.com/}} *{{IMDb name|0329091}}

Category:American film actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:American television actresses Category:City College of New York alumni Category:Living people Category:Trinidad and Tobago film actresses Category:Actresses from Brooklyn Category:Actresses from Queens, New York Category:20th-century Trinidad and Tobago actresses Category:21st-century Trinidad and Tobago actresses Category:Trinidad and Tobago stage actresses Category:Trinidad and Tobago television actresses Category:21st-century American women Category:21st-century Trinidad and Tobago actors Category:20th-century Trinidad and Tobago actors Category:Year of birth missing (living people)