Raised in New York City as the daughter of a teacher and a descendant of Panama Canal engineer George Washington Goethals, she entered the performing arts through a family friend who secured auditions for her; after attending Stuyvesant High School, she debuted on Broadway in 1987’s Coastal Disturbances and earned an Obie Award in 1991 for her Off-Broadway turn as Edna Arkins in The Good Times Are…
