Nursing and care personnel lay on the floor in the ICU unit, during a demonstration on International Nursing and Care day, at the Mont Legia Hospital in Liege, Belgium, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Hospital personnel around Belgium took part in various actions around the country on Wednesday to highlight the work they do and demand better recognition. (Photo by Valentin Bianchi/AP Photo)

A Palestinian man reacts as he confronts Israeli forces during a protest against Israeli settlement activity near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 11, 2022. (Photo by Mussa Qawasma/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.

Israeli soldiers play the parts of wounded civilians during a drill simulating a toxic spill from an attack on a train in Beersheba, southern Israel, 13 January 2016, as Home Front medical teams, fire fighters and police carry out rescue operations. The large scale drill is the concluding exercise of the Fourth International Conference on Healthcare System Preparedness and Response to Emergencies and Disasters and includes some 200 of the world's experts on health system readiness from around the world. The conference is dealing with all types of medical emergencies from terrorist attacks to natural disasters. (Photo by Jim Hollander/EPA)

A boy attends the “Bloco da Lama” (Block of Mud) group during the carnival festivities, in Paraty, Brazil on February 11, 2024. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

A Palestinian father evacuates his wounded daughter from the rubble of a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, 16 May 2021. A total of 174 people have been killed in Israeli raids on Gaza, including 47 children and 29 women, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Sunday. In response violent confrontations between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in Jerusalem, various Palestinian militant factions in Gaza launched rocket attacks on Israel since 10 May, resulting in retaliatory strikes by Israel on Gaza. (Photo by Haitham Imad/EPA/EFE)

Activists from the climate action group Ocean Rebellion perform a stunt outside the Science Museum, in London, United Kingdom on May 19, 2021. (Photo by Hannah McKay/Reuters)

An Afghan street vendor carries bread on his head ahead of the upcoming holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, June 5, 2016. Muslims across the world will be observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan, when they refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk. (Photo by Rahmat Gul/AP Photo)