People take photographs of waves crashing against the harbour wall on January 3, 2012 in Porthcawl, Wales. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Nicole Scherzinger attends The BRIT Awards 2012 at the O2 Arena on February 21, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Space Shuttle Discovery is towed from the shuttle landing facility to the orbiter processing facility at Kennedy Space Center on April 20, 2010 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Discovery's landing attempts at KSC were scrubbed yesterday due to unacceptable weather conditions. Discovery is returning from a successful mission to the International Space Station. (Photo by Matt Stroshane/Getty Images). CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – APRIL 20 2010

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 plastinated body presented as a pole vaulter is exhibited at the Menschen Museum, Museum of Humans, in Berlin, August 29, 2016. The museum was caught up in a legal dispute with the district office of Berlin-Mitte for years before it was able to meet the requirements made by the court. (Photo by Sophia Kembowski/DPA Photo via Newscom)

New York Police officers arrest a drag queen during a weekly “We Choose Freedom” march through the West Village, Thursday, November 5, 2020, in New York. (Photo by Seth Wenig/AP Photo)

Figure skater Alexandra Trusova of Team ROC practices during a training session at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China on February 19, 2022. (Photo by Valery Sharifulin/TASS)

Head coach Kim Mulkey of the LSU Lady Tigers enters the stadium on the red carpet before playing against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the 2023 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament championship game at American Airlines Center on April 02, 2023 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)