“Start your day with a good breakfast together”, 2009. “There was this trend of eating sushi from a woman’s naked body. So when I found the perfect papaya, I knew exactly how to shoot it”. (Photo by Pixy Liao/The Guardian)

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.

Cheerleaders wearing face masks due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are seen at the first professional baseball league game of the season at Taoyuan International baseball stadium in Taoyuan city, Taiwan, April 11, 2020. (Photo by Ann Wang/Reuters)

American actress Vanessa Hudgens attends Beyoncé's “Renaissance” concert in Los Angeles on September 4, 2023. (Photo by vanessahudgens/Instagram)

2016 Rio Olympics, Weightlifting, Final, Women's 63kg, Riocentro, Pavilion 2, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 9, 2016. Marina Rodriguez (CUB) of Cuba competes. (Photo by Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)

A woman crowd-surfs in front of the main stage at the Woodstock Festival in Kostrzyn-upon-Odra, close to the Polish-German border, August 2, 2014. Some 500 thousand people attended the festival that is the brainchild of Polish journalist and social campaigner Jerzy Owsiak. He initiated the event to say thank you to those who donated money to his GOCC charity organisation that delivers medical care for children. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

A 22-year-old woman in a wedding gown is grabbed by Guo Zhongfan, a local community officer, as she attempts to kill herself by jumping out of a seven-storey residential building in Changchun, Jilin province. According to local media, the woman tried to commit suicide after her boyfriend of four years broke up with her, just as they were making plans to get married. The woman did not sustain any injuries during the incident. (Photo by China Daily/Reuters)

A cadet lies on the grass after collapsing during a promotion ceremony at a police school in Bogota December 7, 2012. (Photo by John Vizcaino/Reuters)