Lindsay Knutson plays in the heavy snow with her family dog, Aspen, and daughter Flora Bejblik, 4, cq, as her husband Bob Bejblik, rear left, shovels, Tuesday, March 5, 2013 in southwest Minneapolis. The National Weather Service predicted a two-day snow total of 8 to 12 inches for much of southeastern and east-central Minnesota, including the Twin Cities. (Photo by Elizabeth Flores/AP Photo/The Star Tribune)

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.

A Bedouin rifleman hides behind his camel while he carefully takes aim in the Sahara desert. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

Mohammad, a 13-year-old fighter from the “Free Syrian Army”, plays with a cat in Aleppo's Bustan al-Basha district, Syria October 28, 2013. Mohammad joined the Free Syrian Army after his father died during clashes with the Syrian regime. The gun he is using was his father's. (Photo by Molhem Barakat/Reuters)

Revelers turn out to support LGBT rights during a Pride rally in Lansing, Michigan, U.S., June 17, 2023. (Photo by Dieu-Nalio Chery/Reuters)

Imaan Hammam's sister Aicha wishing sister Dutch fashion model Imaan Hammam a happy birthday in the first decade of October 2024. (Photo by Instagram)

A Australian green tree frog wearing a small turtle as a hat, keeping its head dry during its swim in Padang West Sumatra, Indonesia in May 2023. The Australian green tree frog grows up to 11 centimetres tall, the males being smaller that the females. They can live to the age of 25 and their colour alters between green, brown and blue depending on their mood. (Photo by Yan Hidayat/Media Drum Images)

Wefa, 13, a female Western lowland gorilla, looks inside a Christmas box that contained food as a gift, after a caretaker dressed up as Santa Claus placed it in the enclosure of the family of gorillas, at Bioparc Fuengirola, in Fuengirola, Spain, on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jon Nazca/Reuters)