Ginnifer Goodwin (born Jennifer Michelle Goodwin; May 22, 1978) is an American actress known for her roles as Margene Heffman in the HBO drama Big Love (2006–2011), Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard in the ABC fantasy series Once Upon a Time (2011–2018), Judy Hopps in Disney’s animated film Zootopia (2016), and Beth Ann Stanton in Why Women Kill (2019). Her film credits include Mona Lisa Smile (2003), Walk the Line (2005), He’s Just Not That Into You (2009), Ramona and Beezus (2010), Something Borrowed (2011), Killing Kennedy (2013), and voicing Fawn in Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast (2014).
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Goodwin is the daughter of Linda (née Kantor), a former teacher and FedEx employee, and Tim Goodwin, a former recording studio owner. She changed the spelling of her name from “Jennifer” to “Ginnifer” to reflect the pronunciation in her Southern dialect. Her younger sister, Melissa, is a stop-motion animator known for her work on Robot Chicken. Raised in a mixed religious environment, Goodwin attended both the First Unitarian Church and Temple Israel, was baptized as a child, and studied for a bat mitzvah. She was active in Jewish youth organizations such as BBYO and the North American Federation of Temple Youth, and attended the Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Mississippi. Goodwin graduated from St. Mary’s Episcopal School and Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis in 1996.
