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.

Models prepare backstage before presenting a creation from the Heaven Gaia by Xiong Ying during the China Fashion Week in Beijing on September 4, 2022. (Photo by Wang Zhao/AFP Photo)

A Palestinian man performs fire breathing on the beach in Gaza City on 02 September 2022. (Photo by Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

People attend New York's Annual Village Halloween Parade dressed as soldiers from the United Nations in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., October 31, 2022. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

A worker pushes a wheelbarrow past a mural in Doha on November 8, 2022, ahead of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup football tournament. (Photo by Gabriel Bouys/AFP Photo)

American supermodel Bella Hadid and her collarbones make a statement in pink lingerie in the last decade of January 2023. (Photo by bellahadid/Instagram)

Snow surrounds one of the Anthony Gormley statues called Another Place at Crosby Beach Merseyside, United Kingdom on Friday, March 10, 2023. (Photo by Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)

A worker paints the face of a realistic pet plushie, at the Pampanga Teddy Bear Factory, in Angeles City, Pampanga province, Philippines on March 10, 2023. (Photo by Lisa Marie David/Reuters)