Born on July 17, 1980, in Sutton, London, Goldstein is a two-time Emmy award-winning actor, comedian and writer, best known for playing Roy Kent. The British actor was born to a middle-class Jewish family, and had his bar mitzvah at the famous Wimbledon Synagogue. Growing up, his dad instilled in him a love for Tottenham Hotspur, “which inspired Ted Lasso’s motto about it being the hope that kills you,” according to The Times.
TV producer Bill Lawrence hired Goldstein as a writer for the 2020 Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso, starring Jason Sudeikis. Writing on the show led to Goldstein being cast as the character of aging footballer Roy Kent. Rolling Stone’s Emily Zemler stated that “he felt such a kinship with this stoic tough guy, in fact, that he emailed a self-taped audition of five scenes to the production team. The tapes, which included the ‘If I don’t hear silence I’m gonna start punching dicks’ scene from the pilot, ended up scoring him the role. The rest is history.
