Firefighters and emergency personnel climb the stairs during the Melbourne Firefighter Stair Climb at the Crown Metropol Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia, 10 September 2022. The Melbourne Firefighter Stair Climb features firefighters and emergency personnel climbing 28 flights of stairs wearing 25kgs of turnout gear to raise money for mental health. (Photo by Con Chronis/EPA/EFE)

Indian children work nearby to their parents at a construction project in front of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on January 30, 2010 in New Delhi, India. The children accompany their parents to the work site, where if they are prepared to work, they will receive money for bread an milk and be provided with dinner by the contractor. The sheer scale of the project has drawn an enormous population of migrant workers from all over India.

A penitent called “Morion” checks his mobile phone in Mogpog town on Marinduque island in central Philippines April 14, 2014. During the annual festival, masked and costumed penitents called “Moriones” dress in attire that is the local interpretation of what Roman soldiers wore during biblical times. Holy Week is celebrated in many Christian traditions during the week before Easter. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)

In advance of Fleet Week performances, the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and Team Oracle aerobatics pilot Sean D. Tucker fly over the San Francisco Bay during a photo flight on Thursday, October 5, 2017. (Photo by Noah Berger/AP Photo)

An elephant “kisses” a visitor during a show at an elephant training school in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province, April 18, 2015. Some 16 elephants live at the school and give four 30-minute performances everyday for visitors. (Photo by Wong Campion/Reuters)

Photographer Howard Schatz had an idea: place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters. Such was the premise behind his book, In Character: Actors Acting, which captures some of Hollywood’s most emotive stars in the act of, well, making faces. Luckily for us, he continued the tradition for Vanity Fair. Here are some of the best.

A Sri Lankan elephant, accompanied by his mahout, browse through a roadside fruit stall in Colombo on January 19, 2015. The Sri Lankan elephant is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as the population has declined by at least 50 percent over the last three generations, with the species threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation. (Photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP Photo)

Participants take part in the annual Great Spitalfields Pancake Race in aid of London's Air Ambulance in London, Britain February 9, 2016. (Photo by Stefan Wermuth/Reuters)