Actress Cristin Milioti attends the HBO Max Primetime Emmy Awards Afterparty at San Vicente Bungalows on September 14, 2025 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by David Jon/Getty Images for HBO Max)

An animal enthusiast touches a Bearded Dragon displayed for sale as exotic pet at Thailand Reptile and Exotic Expo in Bangkok, Thailand, 02 August 2024. The Thailand Reptile and Exotic Expo is a trade showcase exhibiting hundreds of reptiles and exotic animals from breeders to sell as exotic pets for enthusiasts. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)

South African model Candice Swanepoel walks the runway during Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at Duggal Greenhouse at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York on October 15, 2024. (Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP Photo)

Sarunphat Pannum, 30, poses for a picture as she celebrates Halloween in Bangkok, Thailand on October 31, 2024. (Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters)

Workers from the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium and Imagine Exhibitions put together an animatronic spinosaurus outside the science center in West Palm Beach, Fla., Tuesday, October 27, 2015. The giant spinosaurus is part of the Dinosaurs Around the World exhibit, set to open on November 1. (Photo by Maria Lorenzino/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP Photo)

A girl presents the new Oktoberfest beer festival mug in a Oktoberfest tent in Munich, southern Germany, on August 21, 2014. The world famous beer festival Oktoberfest will takes place from September 20 to October 5, 2014. (Photo by Christof Stache/AFP Photo)

Colombia fans celebrate a goal during the World Cup Group C soccer match between Colombia and Greece, at a park in Bogota June 14, 2014. (Photo by John Vizcaino/Reuters)

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.