Revenge of the Wallflower

James Veysey / Retna Keira Knightley’s boyfriend Rupert Friend shines opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in Stephen Frears’ upcoming film Cheri. Too bad he hates being in the spotlight.

If it’s rude to stare, then you really need to watch your manners when spending time with Rupert Friend. The strikingly chiselled 27-year-old British actor is starring alongside Michelle Pfeiffer in Cheri, the new Stephen Frears film, as the teenage love interest of Pfeiffer’s aging courtesan—and it’s difficult to discern which of the two actors has the better cheekbones.

There is more to Friend than beauty—though no one can deny that it has certainly played its part in his steady rise to fame. And yet, he doesn’t quite seem comfortable in his skin; as he sits in a pair of baggy jeans and a long-sleeved tee, sipping an Americano in London’s hip East End club Shoreditch House (part of the Soho House family) he looks as skittish as a trapped cat—he clearly doesn’t relish the interview process. He is famously publicity shy, and he and his girlfriend, the beautiful actress Keira Knightley (the couple met while shooting Pride and Prejudice) are famous for wanting to stay out of the spotlight.

“I had no idea that acting was going to be what I chose to do with my life,” he announces. “It is not in my background.” Indeed. Friend was brought up in an idyllic Oxfordshire village—his parents are art historians and gave lecture tours—while young Rupert was educated at the local state school. “I couldn’t reconcile myself to the idea of having to find something to ‘do,’” he explains. “The idea of finding a job and settling down to doing just one thing seemed impossible. I thought acting might give me the chance to explore so many interesting things.”

Keira Knightley and Rupert Friend make a heady combination and could easily attract the kind of attention levelled at Brad and Angelina.

His hunch paid off. While telling no one (except his father, who funded his auditions), Friend set about applying to drama school and was accepted at the prestigious Webber Douglas in London. He has worked his way steadily up the career ladder in historical performances, as a young Nazi in 2008’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Prince Albert in this year’s The Young Victoria.

If there is still such a thing as Method acting, Friend embraces the concept. “I become so obsessed by the characters I play, I want to learn everything about them, ” he says. For his role as Prince Albert, the consort of Queen Victoria, he “learned to draw and learned to play the piano. I played Schubert, I learned fencing, riding, archery. I even learned to speak German. I get to learn all these things for three months and then I went to make a film where I play a bare-fist boxer and now I can box! What day job could give me that freedom and range to learn so many new things?”