A face of a devotee covered with her cloth is pictured as she offers prayers to the rising sun during the "Chhat" festival in Kathmandu, Nepal November 18, 2015. Hindus in Nepal celebrate "Chhat", a four-day festival that honours the sun god by praying at sunrise and sunset and seeking blessings for ones family by giving offerings. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Models walk the runway at the Maria Escote show during Madrid Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2015/16 at Ifema on February 10, 2015 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)

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.

Mt.Huanshan, or Mount Hua is one of the five sacred mountains in China. The other four are Taishan in Shandong, Songshan in Henan, Hengshan in Shanxi and Hengshan in Hunan.
Mt. Huashan is reputed as the most precipitous of the five.

A woman dressed in the style of a Hindu goddess keeps her face partially covered for a ritual during Maha Shivaratri celebrations on March 12, 2021 in Kaveripattinam, India. Maha Shivaratri is a major Hindu festival celebrated annually in honour of the god, Shiva. The festival is observed with chanting prayers, fasting, and meditating to overcome “darkness and ignorance” in life. (Photo by Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images)

American actress and singer Hailee Steinfeld is seen in the Meatpacking District on December 14, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Gotham/GC Images)

Polish supermodel Anja Rubik attends the Saint Laurent show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2020/2021 on February 25, 2020 in Paris, France. (Photo by Swan Gallet/WWD/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

ABC's “Dancing with the Stars”, Season 30 stars American Latin and ballroom dancer and choreographer Jenna Johnson (L) and American dancer, singer, actress, and YouTube personality JoJo Siwa on September 17, 2021. (Maarten de Boer/ABC via Getty Images)