“Mayweather City” cake is held by performers at Floyd Mayweather’s exclusive red carpet birthday bash at Gabriel South Beach on February 24, 2022 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo by MediaPunch/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is greeted by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during a welcome ceremony on day one of the 50th G7 summit at Borgo Egnazia on June 13, 2024 in Fasano, Italy. The G7 summit in Puglia, hosted by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the seventh held in Italy, gathers leaders from the seven member states, the EU Council, and the EU Commission. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Andrea Rossato, Italy. Professional; Candid. Children enjoy the simple pleasures of a seaside holiday. (Photo by Andrea Rossato/Sony World Photography Awards)

This photo taken on July 19, 2020 shows a security guard looking at his smartphone while water is released from the Three Gorges Dam, a gigantic hydropower project on the Yangtze river, to relieve flood pressure in Yichang, central China's Hubei province. Rising waters across central and eastern China have left over 140 people dead or missing, and floods have affected almost 24 million since the start of July, according to the ministry of emergency management. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

A Filipino Catholic performing self-flagellation lies on the ground with his bloodied back outside a church on Good Friday, defying a government ban on religious gatherings amid rising coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, in Manila, Philippines, April 2, 2021. (Photo by Eloisa Lopez/Reuters)

Jordan Spence and Dawson Stallworth watch waves come ashore as Hurricane Sally approaches in Orange Beach, Alabama, U.S., September 15, 2020. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Reuters)

The finishing touches are made to a new wax figure of Theresa May at Madame Tussauds in London, England on November 7, 2017. (Photo by Victoria Jones/PA Wire)

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.