Rupert Friend Biography, Age, Career, Marital Status, Salary and Net Worth

Who is Rupert Friend?

Rupert William Anthony Friend is a popular British professional actor, screenwriter, director, and lyricist. Friend initially became famous for his roles in The Libertine (2004) and Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2005), both of which won him awards for best newcomer.

He then played George Wickham in Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lieutenant Kurt Kotler in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008), and Albert, Prince Consort in The Young Victoria (2009). As well as psychologist Oliver Baumer in Starred Up (2013), CIA operative Peter Quinn in the political thriller series Homeland (2012-2017), Vasily Stalin in The Death of Stalin (2017), Theo van Gogh in At Eternity’s Gate (2018), and Ernest Donovan in the series Strange Angel (2018-2019).

Friend started collaborating with director Wes Anderson, beginning with a cameo in The French Dispatch (2021) in the early 2020s. This was followed by roles in Anderson’s upcoming movie Asteroid City and NetFlix project The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. He then starred as disgraced British politician James Whitehouse in the series Anatomy of a Scandal in 2022. Friend was also featured in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi as the Grand Inquisitor.

He is the director, screenwriter, and/or producer of two award-winning short movies: The Continuing and Lamentable Saga of the Suicide Brothers (2008) and Steve (2010). Friend also wrote lyrics for the Kairos 4Tet 2013 album Everything We Hold.

Rupert Friend Career

2004-2009

Rupert played three small roles in a stage production of The Laramie Project when he was in his third year in drama school and was spotted by a casting director. He then made his acting breakout as Billy Downs alongside Johnny Depp in the 2004 movie The Libertine. For his performance in the film, he was named ”outstanding new talent” at the 2005 Satellite Awards. Friend said that working with Depp so early in his career was a great lesson in film acting. He then had his first starring role as Ludovic Meyer in the movie version of Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, starring alongside Joan Plowright in 2005. Friend played George Wickham in Joe Wright’s version of Pride & Prejudice the same year.

At the age of 22, he was offered a screen test for the part of James Bond following Pierce Brosnan stepping down from the role. However, he declined because he felt he lacked the life experience necessary to play the role of Bond. He then starred in the movie Cheri, playing the title character alongside Michelle Pfeiffer in 2009. Friend joined the cast of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas as Kurt Kotler, a lieutenant in Nazi Germany.

He portrayed Albert, Prince Consort in The Young Victoria in 2010. Graham King, the producer of Young Victoria, invited him to test for the lead role because he remembered his performance in Pride & Prejudice. His portrayal of Albert earned acclaim, specifically for his attention to detail and thorough preparation for the role. At this time, a critic called Friend one of Britain’s finest young actors.

How old is Rupert Friend?

Rupert Willian Anthony Friend is aged 20 as of 2021, having been born on October 9, 1981, in Cambridge, England. He shares his birthday with famous people including Landon Barker, Bella Hadid, Annika Sorenstam, Brandon Routh, Cocoa Brown, David Cameron, Guillermo del Toro, Jackson Browne, and Jharrel Jerome, among others.

Rupert Friend Family

Who are Rupert Friend’s parents?

Rupert Williams Anthony Friend was born in Cambridge to his parents, Caroline Friend and David Oxton Friend. He was brought up in Stonefield, Oxfordshire. His great grandparents are Scottish and his father was a freelance lecturer before starting his own business.

Does Rupert Friend have siblings?

Friend was born to his parents into a family of two children as the oldest. He has one younger sibling, sister Kate Friend.

Rupert Friend Education

Friend attended The Marlborough School in Woodstock, where he graduated. He then enrolled at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London where he received his professional acting.

Rupert Friend Interests

Friend was interested in becoming an archaeologist to travel around the world after watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989. He then opted to act inspired by Marlon Brando who portrayed Vito Corleone, and Daniel Day-Lewis whom he described as his childhood hero.

Rupert Friend Wife

Friend was in a relationship with English actress Keira Knightley from 2005 to 2010, after meeting when filming Pride & Prejudice. He then met American athlete and actress Aimee Mullins in 2013 and they got engaged in December 2014. The two lovebirds later married on May 1, 2016.

Rupert Friend Kids

Friend and Mullins do not have any children of their own yet in their marriage. The couple currently resides in London, England.

Rupert Friend Height

Friend has a well-built, athletic and physically fit body with an impressive height of 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) and a weight of 74 kg (163 lbs).

2010-2019

2010-2015

Rupert made his stage breakthrough as Mitchell in the UK premiere of The Little Dog Laughed in 2010. He went on with Dennis Potter’s Brimstone and Treacle, in which he played the lead character to good reviews. Friend then starred in the movie The Kid, based on the novel by Kevin Lewis. As the movie involves boxing, he is trained to improve his physical and psychological shape. However, the critical reception of The Kid overall was less than favorable. Friend also starred in a French movie titled Lullaby for Pi, playing a musician named Sam. He then portrayed Thomas Anders, the protagonist of the movie 5 Days of War, in 2011, although it did not receive great reviews.

Friend felt dissatisfied with his career and rethought his overall approach to his work and choosing his projects by 2012. He has, however, dismissed reports in the media that at that time he considered quitting acting entirely. Friend then played the prison psychologist Oliver Baumer in the movie Starred Up in 2013. His performance was praised by critics and nominated for a BIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He later starred as Agent 47 in Hitman: Agent 47, a movie based on the Hitman video game franchise, taking the place of Paul Walker in 2015. Friend had to shave all his hair in order to play the role, and also performed most of his own stunts. The production team then sent him copies of all the Hitman games to familiarize himself with the character. Despite calling himself a technophobe, he was only able to walk his avatar in circles and soon gave up. The movie earned mixed reviews. He later gave narration for Nick Knight’s folk horror fashion movie, The Face of a Dying Dog in 2015.

2016-2019

Rupert earned worldwide fame as CIA operative and assassin Peter Quinn in the acclaimed political thriller series Homeland (2012-2017), his first television series role. Introduced in season two as a supporting character, Friend’s role became significantly more important as of season three. Friend’s performance earned widespread acclaim and he was nominated for three awards such as a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series in 2013. His exit from the series was mourned by the press and fans after his character Peter Quinn died in season six.

Following his involvement in Homeland concluded in 2017, he acted in various comedies. He was then offered the lead role in Paul Feig’s A Simple Favor but declined to play a funny shorter part in the movie instead. Friend was described as displaying ”serious comedic chops” in Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stain, where he played Stain’s son Vasily. He was later asked by director and painter Julian Schnabel to portray Theo van Gogh in At Eternity’s Gate (2018). This was an award-winning biopic about Vincent van Gogh, who was portrayed by Willem Dafoe.

From 2018 to 2019, Rupert played the role of the mysterious Ernest Donovan in the series Strange Angel. His performance was then acclaimed as being ‘of amusing weirdness and a creepy-crawly intensity. He performed a new audio drama by John Patrick Shanley, Last Night in the Garden I Saw You, featuring Michelle Williams in 2018. In the next year, he was asked by screenwriter David Koepp to narrate the audiobook of his debut novel Cold Storage. He also voiced the character of Peter Hardy in the 2019 Gimlet scripted podcast Motherhacker.

2020-present

Friend joined the group of actors regularly working with director Wes Anderson in the early 2020s. The collaboration began with a cameo appearance as an actor playing a drill sergeant in The French Dispatch (2021. It went on with a more substantial role in the upcoming movie Asteroid City. Friend will play a leading role in Anderson’s Netflix project The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which started filming in 2022. The movie is based on the stories by Roald Dahl, whom Friend has described as a hero of his. Following successfully playing a spy in Homeland, Friend was mentioned again as the possible next James Bond when Daniel Craig quit the role in 2021.

Rupert then played a role in the 2021 horror movie Separation, which received negative reviews although his performance as a single father received praise. The sci-fi movie Infinite (2021) in which he played the character Barton together with Mark Wahlberg, was ranked among the worst movies of 2021. The next year he portrayed network boss Wilson Sikorsy in Tim Kirkby’s movie Last Looks (2022) receiving positive reviews.

He starred alongside Sienna Miller and Michelle Dockery as James Whitehouse, a British politician on trial for rape, in the Netflix mini-series Anatomy of a Scandal. Initially, he had turned down the role twice, as he did not feel enough affinity with the privileged Whitehouse. Friend was persuaded to take on the role when director S.J. Clarkson challenged him to find a way to play the humanity of the character. Friend’s acting was generally praised, with the series itself receiving mixed reviews from critics.

2022 and upcoming projects

Rupert then featured as the Grand Inquisitor in Disney+’s series Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022), an experience he stated he enjoyed and would like to repeat. The role was physically demanding: the Grand Inquisitor’s armor weighed 45 pounds and each day of filming it took a team of makeup artists four hours to apply the makeup and prosthetics needed for the role. Friend will play one of the main characters in the comedy series High Desert, alongside Patricia Arquette and Matt Dillon (in production). It was revealed in February 2022, that he would play a lead role in Zack Snyder‘s sci-fi movie Rebel Moon. However, he withdrew from the project due to scheduling issues. Friend will also be part of the QCode musical podcast series Cupid, scheduled for launch in the summer of 2022.

On acting

Rupert’s work as a stage actor has been praised, but he opts for films and television. Initially, he was reluctant to take on roles in longer-running TV shows and even turned down the chance to audition for Homeland. He has said that he believes imagination is an actor’s most important tool. Friend does extensive background research on his characters.

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As for his role as Prince Albert in The Young Victoria, he did historical research to get a better understanding of the character. He trained to ride a horse, walk, talk, play the piano and even write like Albert would have done. In his last Homeland season, his character Peter Quinn is recovering from a stroke and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. So as to prepare for the role, he spoke with veterans and medical specialists to assist him to portray these conditions realistically and with respect.

Director, screenwriter, producer, and lyricist

Friend and Tom Mison wrote, produced, and starred in a short movie titled The Continuing and Lamentable Saga of the Suicide Brothers in 2008. The movie won Best Short at the Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival (2010). Later, he founded his own production company named Beat Pictures, and he made his directorial breakout with a short movie in 2010 titled Steve. The movie starred Colin Firth, Tom Mison, and Keira Knightley. Apart from directing, he wrote and produced the movie, which was later included in the 2012 compilation Stars in Shorts. Steve earned him the Rhode Island Film Festival Crystal Image Award and was nominated for the Santa Barbara Film Festival Bruce Corwin Award for Best Short Film.

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Plans for him to write, direct and star in a feature-length road film about confidence tricksters called Barton & Charlie & Checco & Bill were mentioned in the media in 2014-15. However, the plans did not materialize. Later plans were revealed for the feature movie Cornerman about boxing trainer Cus D’Amato, with Friend to write and direct and Bruce Willis playing D’Amato in 2018.

Friend was requested by Adam Waldmann, the leader of the jazz ensemble Kairos 4Tet, to write lyrics for a track on their 2011 album Statement of Intent. He was also asked to contribute lyrics for their 2013 album Everything We Hold, which earned positive reviews. Friend’s lyrics were sung by Marc O’Reilly, Omar Lye-Fook, and Emilia Martensson.

Rupert Friend Net Worth

British professional actor, screenwriter, director, and lyricist, Friend has been active from 2004 to the present. He has appeared in numerous films and series throughout his career and has written, directed, and produced several films. Friend has also written lyrics for music bands in his career and has garnered an accumulative net worth of around $5 million as of 2022.