A woman with a snake on her body, taken in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 2017. A holistic therapist uses snakes to massage her clients – claiming it cures depression and even helps victims of abuse. Instead of traditional massaging techniques, Sarah Zaad uses up to six pythons and boa constrictors on brave customers who want to relax or be treated for mental disorders. The flamboyant therapist from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil believes her snakes have a magic touch, which can benefit people by massaging their bodies. (Photo by Kadeh Ferreira/Barcroft Images)

Internally displaced Syrians who fled Raqqa tie ropes for their tents in a camp in Manbij, Syria on April 6, 2017. (Photo by Rodi Said/Reuters)

Hindu women apply “sindhur”, or vermillion powder, on the face of a woman after worshipping the idol of the Hindu goddess Durga on the last day of the Durga Puja festival in Chandigarh, India October 11, 2016. (Photo by Ajay Verma/Reuters)

Iraqi Shiite fighters from the Hashed al- Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitaries hold a position near the village of Tal Abtah, south of Tal Afar, on November 30, 2016, during a broad offencive by Iraq forces to retake the city Mosul from Islamic State group jihadists. (Photo by Ahmad Al- Rubaye/AFP Photo)

A person wearing a mask of Elmo walks around Times Square during the pass of the snowstorm on January 31, 2021 in New York City. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency order due to the arriving storm that's expected to wallop New York, where airports are expected to cancel the majority if their flights. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/VIEWpress)

A protester raises her fist at the entrance of Highway 280 and S. 4th St. as people protest the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in downtown San Jose, Calif., on Friday, May 29, 2020. (Photo by Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

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.

Negin Ekhpulwak, leader of the Zohra orchestra, an ensemble of 35 women, practises on a piano at Afghanistan's National Institute of Music, in Kabul, Afghanistan April 9, 2016. Playing instruments was banned under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, and even today, many conservative Muslims frown on most forms of music. Living in an orphanage in the capital, Kabul, 19-year-old Negin Ikhpolwak leads an ensemble of 35 women that plays both Western and Afghan musical instruments. In a country notorious internationally for harsh restrictions on women in most areas of life, Negin's story highlights a double challenge. (Photo by Ahmad Masood/Reuters)