Masai women dressed in traditional clothes wear surgical masks as they wait for a ceremony marking World Elephant Day in the Amboseli National Park, Kenya, August 12, 2020. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)

Rescue team members search through buildings damaged due to the massive explosion at Beirut's port area, in Gemmayze, Lebanon on September 4, 2020. (Photo by Aziz Taher/Reuters)

A dancer performs a fire breathing act during a procession to mark the 669th anniversary of the birth of Hindu Guru Bawa Lal Dayal in Amritsar on February 9, 2024. (Photo by Narinder Nanu/AFP Photo)

A Palestinian child plays with a sparkler in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on the eve of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan on March 10, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Photo by Said Khatib/AFP Photo)

A supporter of presidential candidate and former chairman of the NATO Military Committee and Czech Army General Petr Pavel hands out leaflets, ahead of a direct presidential election that will start on January 13, in Prague, Czech Republic on January 5, 2023. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)

A trained monkey rides a toy cycle during a Topeng Monyet (Monkey Mask) show at a densely populated area in Depok on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia, on May 18, 2024. (Photo by Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/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 participant in the Crazy Races extreme sports game competes in the cross-country obstacle race in Ufa, Russia on September 21, 2015. (Photo by TASS/Barcroft Media)