In this undated photo provided on Monday, November 25, 2019, by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, poses as he inspects a women's company under Unit 5492 of the Korean People's Army in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. (Photo by Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Photo)

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.

American actress Ariana DeBose attends The Hollywood Reporter Nominees Night presented by IHG Hotels and Resorts at Spago on March 07, 2022 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Sara Jaye/Getty Images for IHG Hotels and Resorts)

Canadian actress and model Shannon Ashley Garcia “Shay” Mitchell early January 2023 discovers flowers that complement her dress. (Photo by shaymitchell/Instagram)

Colombian-American actress and TV personality Sofía Vergara in the second decade of December 2023 flaunts her figure in a body-hugging dress. (Photo by Sofiavergara/Instagram)

UK Love Island’s star Maura Higgins, 30, stuns as she poses in revealing outfits in her latest photoshoot with brand Ego in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in April 2021. (Photo by EGO)

Shortlisted: Pooyan Shadpoor, Houcheraghi. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran – an island in the Persian Gulf – Shadpoor came across this luminous scene. The “magical lights of (the) plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot”, he writes. (Photo by Pooyan Shadpoor/2016 EPOTY)

England fan stripped down to her underwear and jumped in the canal in Birmingham, United Kingdom after team lose the 2018 World Cup semi- final against Croatia in Moscow on July 11, 2018. (Photo by Caters News Agency)