A Colombian fans cheers before the 2026 FIFA World Cup South American qualifiers football match between Colombia and Argentina, at the Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez stadium in Barranquilla, Colombia, on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Joaquín Sarmiento/AFP Photo)

In a simpler time all a child or an adult needed to enjoy the outdoors was a ball and a stick. Or maybe an old tire tied to a high branch to fashion a swing. And the only instruction given to children was to “be home before dark”. Now there are iPads and computers and television screens and shrinking safe public spaces. But despite the distractions and limitations of space, these images show the charm of kicking a ball or skipping rope endures. Sometimes with modifications as a nod to changing times. Here: in this Saturday, June 20, 2015 photo, a boy runs while playing with a motorcycle wheel in Samugari, Ayacucho, Peru. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Chinese rescuers carry an injuried resident after an earthquake hit an area of Ludian county in Zhaotong in southwest China's Yunnan province on August 3, 2014. At least 300 people were killed and 1,300 injured after a strong earthquake hit southwest China's mountainous Yunnan province, state media said. The quake in Zhaotong prefecture, in the province's northeast, toppled buildings and left residents frantically searching for survivors beneath the rubble, images on social media showed. (Photo by AFP Photo)

Actor Candis Cayne performs at John Varvatos + OUT Support the Gay Men's Chorus of LA on September 29, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for John Varvatos)

“7584 Fish”. On a windy day right after a Cyclone passed the far northern Great Barrier Reef i took some friends out to the reef. Never before i saw that many glass fish on this particular coral “bommie”. Just when i setup my camera, this Napoleon Wrasse swam right through the school of fish building a living frame. Photo location: Cairns, Great Barrier Reef, Flynn Reef, Australia. (Photo and caption by Christian Miller/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Women wearing traditional hats, known as a non la, sell fruits in Hoi An, Vietnam April 4, 2016. The non la hats are made of readily available materials such as palm leaves, tree bark and bamboo and are visible everywhere in the city, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Hoi An's history as a busy trading port is evident throughout its architecture, a mix of eras and styles, with traditional wooden Vietnamese houses, Chinese temples and French colonial buildings. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

Professor Xie Yong works on an art installation of a beaver, which is made out of plastic and around 300,000 needles, in Shenyang, Liaoning province, July 23, 2013. The needles, according to Xie, represent the pain felt by animals when their fur is taken off to produce clothing. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

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.