Rupert William Anthony Friend (born 9 October 1981) is an English actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his roles as Mr. Wickham in the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice, Lieutenant Kurt Kotler in the 2008 film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Prince Albert in the 2009 film The Young Victoria, Agent 47 in the 2015 film Hitman: Agent 47, and Vasily Stalin, son of Joseph Stalin, in the movie The Death of Stalin. From 2012 to 2017, he portrayed Peter Quinn on the Showtime series Homeland, for which he was nominated for an Emmy in 2013.\n', '

Friend was born and brought up in Stonesfield, Oxfordshire, the son of Caroline, a solicitor, and Nicholas Friend, a cultural historian. He attended The Marlborough School in Woodstock. He moved to take A-levels at the Cherwell School and d\'Overbroeck\'s College in Oxford. Friend received his professional acting training at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He considered himself a late starter: "I was about to set off sailing around the world when I heard I\'d got into drama school. Everyone else there had grown up singing and dancing, whereas I was the opposite."\n', '

Originally he wanted to be an archaeologist and travel around the world after seeing Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989, but he scrapped the idea after realizing that the occupation is not as remunerative as he had expected. Instead, he turned to acting, in which he was also inspired by Harrison Ford, who played Indiana Jones, and Marlon Brando who played Vito Corleone.\n', '

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