A young boy adjusts his friend's Adolf Hitler mask during a game on a street in King's Cross, London. (Photo by William Vanderson/Getty Images). 1938

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 USA fan smiles ahead of the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup semifinal football match between USA and Jamaica on July 3, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Ricardo Arduengo/AFP Photo)

A Russia-backed rebel looks at the flag covered body of an Ukrainian serviceman in Debaltseve, Ukraine, February 20, 2015. The struggle for the strategic rail hub, Debaltseve, a sleepy town with a pre-war population of 25,000 people, left the town in ruins and became one of the darkest pages in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has already killed more than 6,000 people. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo/File)

An artwork by artist Chavis Marmol, a Tesla 3 car crushed by a nine-ton Olmec-inspired head, is pictured in Mexico City on March 13, 2024. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)

A motorist drives a car through a flooded expressway in Brooklyn, New York early on September 2, 2021, as flash flooding and record-breaking rainfall brought by the remnants of Storm Ida swept through the area. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

NYPD police wearing protective face masks and gloves respond to a report of an emotionally disturbed person (EDP), amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in the Midtown Manhattan area of New York City, U.S., September 15, 2021. (Photo by Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)