[1] Having acted in a number of German language productions, he is best known internationally as the teacher in Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon (2009), as part of the main cast of the Netflix television thriller series Babylon Berlin (2017–present) and as Rudolf Höss in the 2023 drama The Zone of Interest.

Friedel has appeared in films and television series since 2009 including Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon, and Oliver Hirschbiegel's 13 Minutes, where he portrayed Georg Elser.

More recently, he played police photographer Gräf in the esteemed drama series Babylon Berlin, and was a main character in the German mini-series Perfume.

Since its 2009–2010 season, Friedel has been part of the company at Staatsschauspiel Dresden, and has acted in title roles such as Schiller's Don Carlos and Shakespeare's Hamlet.

[4] In Spring 2017, Friedel played the role of Nathanael in a stage adaptation of E. T. A. Hoffmann's The Sandman by Robert Wilson at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus.