Once Upon a Time 1st season Spoiler Free

"I have done my share of stock characters," admits Goodwin at a Santa Monica hotel.

Still, the perky 32-year-old, sporting a shorter-than-usual, pixie-style haircut, tries to land roles with a twist.

In April, she completed a five-year stint portraying Margie Heffman, the third wife in a polygamous family featured on HBO's Big Love.

Currently, Goodwin's getting good reviews for her role as Rachel opposite Kate Hudson's Darcy in the relationship comedy, Something Borrowed, which opened May 6. Based on the Emily Giffen novel, the movie focuses on the longtime friendship between Darcy (Hudson) and Rachel (Goodwin), as the self-absorbed Darcy prepares for her wedding day. Darcy, a narcissist, exploits relationships. Rachel, an over-achieving wimp, gets exploited.

Complications ensue when Rachel drinks too much on her 30th birthday and ends up bedding her longtime crush, and Darcy's fiance, Dex (Colin Egglesfield).

While Darcy focuses on herself and the nuptials, Rachel and Dex — best buddies at law school — begin to realize their feelings for one another.

Co-starring is The Office's John Krasinski who plays Ethan: He grew up with Rachel and Darcy, but prefers Rachel as a friend. Ashley Williams is the Ethan-obsessed Claire, and Steve Howey defines Marcus, a cad with a playboy complex.

Dysfunction rules, but Goodwin insists that was her attraction to the Something Borrowed project.

"It was very appealing because this isn't your regular chick flick," she says. "There are consequences to the characters' terrible actions."

That includes Rachel "and her living and telling lies, lies, lies, lies."

"I judged Rachel so harshly when I first read the script, so I knew it would be challenging to get the audience to sympathize with her."

Bonding with Hudson on the New York set helped a great deal.

"We really do get along like gangbusters in real life," says Goodwin of Hudson.

She felt the same connection with the cast and crew of Big Love, which aired its final show in March.

"I loved digging my elbows deep into the character over a period of time," she says of the series, "instead of doing something in an hour-and-a-half movie."

Initially, she expected to have a career in theatre, and never pursued jobs in film or TV. After graduating from Boston University's College of Fine Arts, she joined the Williamstown Theatre group in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Slowly she made the transition into more mainstream TV and movie projects, drifting away from the stage. "I just went where there were opportunities."

She made her TV debut on a Law & Order episode in 2001 and was subsequently hired as a semi-regular on the series Ed from 2002 to 2003.

On the movie front from 2003 to 2005, she had co-starring parts in Mona Lisa Smile, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! and, most notably, the Oscar-honoured Walk the Line, portraying Johnny Cash's first wife.

She returned to TV, and lots of notoriety, in 2006 in Big Love. In 2009's He's Just Not That into You, she played lost-in-love Gigi to a favourable reaction and co-starred opposite Colin Firth in A Single Man. Last year, she underscored her range by portraying Aunt Bea in Ramona and Beezus.