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.

Carlos Melendez prepares to feed his pet squirrel “Colita” in downtown San Salvador January 29, 2015. (Photo by Jose Cabezas/Reuters)

This photo taken on February 1, 2018 shows a worker trimming the skin imperfections of a silicone doll at a factory of EXDOLL, a firm based in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. With China facing a massive gender gap and a greying population, a company wants to hook up lonely men and retirees with a new kind of companion: “Smart” sеx dolls that can talk, play music and turn on dishwashers. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)

Riot police use a water cannon to disperse LGBT rights activist before a Gay Pride Parade in central Istanbul, Turkey, June 28, 2015. Turkish police fired water cannon and rubber pellets to disperse a crowd gathered in central Istanbul for the city's annual gay pride parade, a Reuters cameraman at the scene said. The police appeared intent on stopping the crowd gathering near Taksim Square, the cameraman said. Taksim is a traditional rallying ground for demonstrators and saw weeks of unrest in 2013. (Photo by Kemal Aslan/Reuters)

A Haitian woman lies in a trance during a voodoo ceremony in Souvenance, a suburb of Gonaives, 171 km north of Port- au- Prince, on April 16, 2017. Haitian voodoo followers arrived in Souvenance to take part in the voodoo ceremonies held during Easter weekend. (Photo by Hector Retamal/AFP Photo)

A zookeeper wearing orangutan costume tries to escape while zookeepers hold up a net in an attempt to capture it during an Escaped Animal Drill at Tama Zoological Park in Tokyo, Japan on February 22, 2019. The annual escape drill is held to train zookeepers what to do in the event of an animal escape. This year a member of staff wearing an orangutan costume was captured and subdued with large nets, sticks and tranquilizer guns to make sure the orangutan did not get away. (Photo by Rodrigo Reyes Marin/ZUMA Wire/Alamy Live News)

A Palestinian sits among the rubble of buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 4, 2025. (Photo by Hatem Khaled/Reuters)

Costume details featuring Joao Candido, a black sailor who led a revolt against the physical punishment of Brazilian Navy soldiers at the beginning of the 20th century, lie inside the Paraíso do Tuiuti Samba school at the Samba City complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, January 16, 2024. Samba schools are gearing up for this year's Carnival, scheduled from Feb. 9-17. (Photo by Bruna Prado/AP Photo)