A palomino horse's mane is seen against the sky at Spancil Hill horse fair in Spancil Hill, Ireland June 23, 2018. (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

An injured vulture is treated at the VulPro Vulture Rehabilitation Centre in Hartebeepoortdam in the Magalisburg region on September 15, 2015. Confined to southern Africa, just under 4,000 breeding pairs of Cape Vultures remain in the wild, mostly in South Africa, Lesotho and Botswana. Unless conservation efforts are successful, Africa's largest vulture species may be facing eventual extinction. (Photo by Mujahid Safodien/AFP 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.

A Muslim man carries holy incensed smoke through a pedestrian subway in Mumbai, India, May 13, 2016. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

An Indian Muslim worker applies colors on Kalavas (sacred threads) in Ajmer in the Indian state of Rajasthan on May 24, 2018. (Photo by Himanshu Sharma/AFP Photo)

A purple haze of heather as the sun rises over the New Forest near Lyndhurst, Hampshire in UK on July 28, 2025. (Photo by Steve Hogan/Bournemouth News)

Sue Hall goes for a walk in Charlton village in Worcestershire on Wednesday, May 22, 2024. Heavy rain could bring flooding and travel disruption across much of the UK on Wednesday and Thursday with an amber warning issued for part of the country. (Photo by David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images)

“Freedom”. After the 30 years banning import large motorcycle, in 2007, the Taiwan government reopened the import licensing of the motorcycle displacement over 550 cubic centimeter. Those large bikes, which were never seen before, were strange thought and treated unequally frequently. However, those adversity will not stop those enthusiastic bike riders from chasing the road of freedom. Photo location: Taiwan. (Photo and caption by 火花 羅/National Geographic Photo Contest)