A giraffe appears almost to be doing the splits as it bends to drink at a watering hole on a reserve in Mkuze, South Africa in September 2023. (Photo by Peter Batty/Solent News)

An aerial view shows a packed parking lot at Citadel Outlets in Commerce, Calif., Thursday, November 28, 2024, as early Black Friday shoppers arrive at the mall. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)

In this photo taken with a long exposure, a person walks a dog past Christmas lights in a park, Sunday, December 15, 2024, in Lenexa, Kan. (Photo by USA Today)

An Icelandic mare and her foal stand on a meadow at a stud farm in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

A Swiss police officer accompanies a migrant from Syria carrying her baby, upon her arrival at the railway station in the north-eastern Swiss town of Buchs September 1, 2015. (Photo by Arnd Wiegmann/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.

The People of Mah Meri tribe at home at Pulau Carey village on December 03, 2016 in Selangor, Malaysia. The Mah Meri people are one 18 tribes of Orang Asal (indigenous people) living in west Malaysia. The Mah Meri are know for thei wood carvings and also for the richness of their songs and dances. (Photo by Yuli Seperi/Sijori Images/Barcroft India)

A young Afghan vendor waits for customers to buy sheep's heads at a roadside stall at the busy market in Kabul on November 29, 2015. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP Photo)