Dancers perform during the annual Tartan Day Parade along Sixth Avenue on April 15, 2023 in New York City. Celebrating its 25th Anniversary, the New York City Tartan Day Parade featured many Scottish clans, Pipers, Dancers and Scottish dogs. (Photo by Andrew Schwartz/SIPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

The night view of the National Assembly Building and Yeouido in Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul taken on the December 27, 2024. The lights shine in a cross shape thanks to the cross filter used. (Photo by Koh Woon-ho)

Black Winged Stilt is seen on Kavak Delta, a natural and ecologically important wetland for many migratory birds, in Canakkale, Turkiye on May 13, 2025. (Photo by Alper Tuydes/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Sophie Hawkshaw, 9, dressed as a Headless Horseman, participates in a lead rein fancy dress competition for riders under 10 years old at an agricultural show, in Athenry, Ireland on May 25, 2025. (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/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.

In this January 6, 2017 photo, transgender inmates get a security check from female officers before entering their cell at Pattaya Remand Prison in Pattaya, Chonburi province, Thailand. The prison separates lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender prisoners from other inmates, a little-known policy despite being in place nationwide since 1993, according to the Department of Corrections. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)

A Ukrainian man stands in protest in front of gunmen in unmarked uniforms as they stand guard in Balaklava, on the outskirts of Sevastopol, Ukraine, Saturday, March 1, 2014. (Photo by Andrew Lubimov/AP Photo)

Jorge, an immigrant from Mexico, dressed as the Sesame Street character Elmo rests in Times Square, New York July 29, 2014. Elmo and Cookie Monster have long delighted young viewers on TV's “Sesame Street”, but the recent antics of New York street performers dressed as the beloved characters have drawn the ire of city officials and now the show's producers. Sesame Workshop, which owns the rights to Big Bird, Ernie and the assorted puppet monsters on the 45-year-old program, said on July 29, 2014 it was drafting plans to stop performers who dress up as the characters from appearing in Times Square, where they pose for photos with tourists and then demand tips. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)