American actress and singer Rainey Qualley outside Proenza Schouler on Saturday, September 9, 2023 in Manhattan, New York. (Photo by Calla Kessler for The Washington Post)

American singer Chappell Roan is seen shooting a new music video on July 08, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by BG048/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Argentine-Spanish model Georgina Rodriguez attends the Kering Foundation's Caring for Women dinner during the Spring-Summer 2026 New York Fashion Week in New York City, U.S., September 11, 2025. (Photo by Angelina Katsanis/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.

A model wears a creation by “Como un pez en el agua” (Like a fish in the water) for the Spring/Summer 2017-2018 fashion show as part of 080 Barcelona fashion week in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, June 29, 2017. (Photo by Manu Fernandez/AP Photo)

The hot air balloon “Hopper T Frog” from Park City, Utah, peeks over the red rock cliffs during the 23nd Annual Red Rock Balloon Rally at Red Rock State Park December 6, 2003 near Gallup, New Mexico. (Photo By Douglas Tesner/Getty Images)

The Vietnam Slide Project was created by photo editor Kendra Rennick, who began collecting photo slides after a close friend lost her father, a Vietnam veteran. Her friend found a box of slides that her father had taken while in Vietnam and from there Rennick has continued to collect photographs that Vietnam veterans took during their tours of duty. Here: A photo taken from the collection of D.Thornton, who served in the First Air Cavalry division of the United States Army. (Photo by D.Thornton/The Vietnam Slide Project)

A model has a wig prepared backstage before The Blonds Spring/Summer 2017 collection during New York Fashion Week in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., September 11, 2016. (Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters)