In this July 12, 2007 file photo, a two-day-old piping plover runs along a beach in the Quonochontaug Conservation Area in Westerly, R.I. (Photo by Steven Senne/AP Photo)

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.

People wearing costumes pose for a photograph as they participate in the annual “Zombie Walk” in Bordeaux, France on October 22, 2016. Several hundred people wearing costumes and makeup took part in the walk which was authorized despite the state of emergency. (Photo by Georges Gobet/AFP Photo)

American model Emily Ratajkowski attends Harper's BAZAAR Global ICONS Portfolio and Bloomingdale's 150th Anniversary at Bloomingdale's on September 09, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Gotham/FilmMagic)

The London Cabaret Club on August 26, 2022 getting in the mood for Notting Hill carnival weekend will host to a Brazilian Fantasy Dance Company Festival ,with the colors and music of Carnival. (Photo by Paul Quezada-Neiman/Alamy Live News)

American model Bella Hadid shares a behind-the-scenes photo from a lingerie shoot on December 28, 2021. (Photo by bellahadid/Instagram)

Mikhail Vasilenko, a participant from the Siberian town of Nizhny Tagil, works on an ice sculpture called “The Predator”, on the last day of the annual international festival of snow and ice sculptures “The Magical Ice of Siberia”, with the air temperature at about minus 28 degrees Celsius (minus 18.4 degrees Fahrenheit), in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, January 17, 2016. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

An Indian woman dressed in traditional attire rides a motorcycle as she participates in a procession to mark Gudi Padwa or the Marathi New Year in Mumbai, Maharashtra state, India, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. (Photo by Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo)