A huge wave crashes against Castlerock pier as professional surfer Al Mennie waits on a break in the swell on December 22, 2016 in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. Storm Barbara is expected to cause major travel disruption when it hits northern parts of the UK later with 90mph winds predicted. The Met Office has issued an amber warning with the worst effects of the storm expected on Friday and Saturday. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/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.

Swedish photographer Paul Hansen won the 2012 World Press Photo award Friday for newspaper Dagens Nyheter with a picture of two Palestinian children killed in an Israeli missile strike being carried to their funeral.

Photo: In this photo provided on Friday February 15, 2013 by World Press Photo, the 2013 World Press Photo of the year by Paul Hansen, Sweden, for Dagens Nyheter, shows two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and her three-year-old brother Muhammad who were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike. Their father, Fouad, was also killed and their mother was put in intensive care. Fouad's brothers carry his children to the mosque for the burial ceremony as his body is carried behind on a stretcher in Gaza City, Palestinian Territories, November 20, 2012. (Photo by Paul Hansen/Dagens Nyheter/AP Photo)

Journeys and adventures winner – This is My Jungle. A wild elephant attacks a jeep full of people. “We should respect nature and care more about it, but we should also avoid taking unnecessary and reckless risks”. (Photo by Savvi Sergey/SIPA Contest)

Ice Age – Tibet, China. “This is the Chinese version of the blue ice lake, Pumoungcuo, at an altitude of 5,070 metres (16,600 feet). This lake in Tibet freezes every winter. At night, under the low temperatures of -20C, you can listen to the sound of the ice cracking while capturing the most beautiful winter sky. The blue ice surface and dazzling Orion constellation create a fantasy landscape. I felt so happy to have the stars as my companion on this magical night”. (Photo by Daniel Zafra Portill/Milky Way Photographer of the Year)

The erupting Litli-Hrútur volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland captured with a drone in the last decade of July 2023. (Photo by Elliot McGucken/Animal News Agency)

Two women pose as they drink real ale at the Great British Beer Festival in the Olympia exhibition centre on August 13, 2013 in London, England. The festival, which runs until August 17, 2013, has over 24 bars serving over 800 different beers, ciders and perries. (Photo by Oli Scarff)

A Hindu worshipper throws vegetables into the crater as offerings during the Kasada Festival at Mount Bromo in Probolinggo, Indonesia's East Java province, August 1, 2015. Every year people gather for the annual festival where offerings of rice, fruit, vegetables, livestock or money are made to Hindu gods at the active volcano to ask for blessings and assure a bountiful harvest. (Photo by Reuters/Beawiharta)