“Strike Through The Mothership”. Every May for the last 3 years I have driven down to Tornado Alley to capture some amazing storms. This supercell held so much promise to drop a tornado but one small shift in the atmosphere and all that it produced was an extreme lightning show. Photo location: Broken Bow, Nebraska. (Photo and caption by Vanessa Neufeld/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Nikki Reed is seen shopping at American Rag in Los Angeles, CA., on May 14, 2014. (Photo by Bauergriffin.com)

Mike Bennett wears a Patriot face mask on his mouth as a preventive measure against the spread of COVID-19 while skateboarding with his dog amid the novel coronavirus pandemic in Huntington Beach, California on April 25, 2020. Orange County is the only county in the area where beaches remain open, lifeguards in Huntington Beach expect tens of thousands of people to flock the beach this weekend due to the heat wave. Lifeguards and law enforcement are patrolling the beach to make sure people are keeping their distance. (Photo by Apu Gomes/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 young girl chases pigeons as Muslim worshippers gather to perform the Eid al-Fitr morning prayer at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, on May 13, 2021. (Photo by Abdulghani Essa/AFP Photo)

A park ranger stands next to a nothern white female rhinoceros named Najin at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, some 290 kms north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on January 27, 2015. Najin is one of only five members of the sub-species left on the planet, three of which reside at Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Conservationists and scientists met in Kenya this week to come up with a last ditch plan to save the northern white rhinoceros from extinction. (Photo by Tony Karumba/AFP Photo)

American actress, model, and singer Ashley Benson arrives at Paris Hilton's wedding party inBeverly Hills, CA. on November 14, 2021. (Photo by Backgrid USA)

A Scots soldier has won a top award for his photos vividly depicting Army life in Afghanistan. Corporal Jamie Peters took the overall first prize for his portfolio in the annual Army Photographic Competition. Photo: Jamie's overall winning image entitled “Celtic Warrior” and shows Private Ross Cunningham from 1 Scots cleaning his personal weapon. (Photo by Jamie Peters/PA Wire)