He made his debut in the film The Libertine, as Billy Downs, a young friend and lover of Johnny Depp's John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, for which he was named "outstanding new talent" at the 2005 Satellite Awards.[citation needed] In 2008, he and his Webber Douglas contemporary Tom Mison filmed the short The Continuing and Lamentable Saga of the Suicide Brothers which they wrote and in which they play the title characters. He also played in the movie "Cheri" opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and "Young Victoria" starring Emily Blunt.

In 2010, Friend will make his stage debut as Mitchell in the UK premiere of The Little Dog Laughed. He stars in the forthcoming films The Kid, based on the novel by Kevin Lewis, and Lullaby for Pi.

Friend grew up in Stonesfield, Oxfordshire and attended The Marlborough School in Woodstock. He moved to take A-levels at the Cherwell School and d'Overbroeck's College in Oxford. He trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He has been dating Keira Knightley since 2005.