England fans descended on Leeds on June 12, 2021 before the Three Lions begin their Euro 2020 campaign. England and Croatia meet again after their semi-final clash in the 2018 World Cup, which saw the latter going through to the final. (Photo by Nb press ltd)

An actor playing the role of the Conductor, poses for a photograph alongside the Polar Express Train Ride at the Swanage Railway in Dorset, UK on Thursday, November 16, 2023, a festive-themed train journey based on the Polar Express book and film, which invites visitors to travel in their pyjamas and dressing gowns as they journey from Swanage to the “North Pole”. (Photo by Andrew Matthews/PA Images via Getty Images)

Actresses perform during the Olympic flame lighting ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympics Games at the Ancient Olympia archeological site, birthplace of the ancient Olympics in southern Greece, on April 16, 2024. (Photo by Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP Photo)

Maudy – Kalulushi, Zambia. Maudy was born in a hut in a small village close to Kalulushi, in Zambia. She grew up playing in the street with the other children in the village, who all attend the same school, where students ages 3 to 10 years old are in the same class. The village has no shops, restaurants or hotels, and just a few children are lucky enough to have toys. Maudy and her friends found a box full of sunglasses on the street, which quickly became their favorite toys. “Toy Stories” project. (Photo and caption by Gabriele Galimberti)

Dog Xiaoniu dressed in clothes walks across a street with its owner (not pictured) in Shanghai, December 19, 2014. According to local media, Xiaoniu accompanies its owner to the food market everyday and is able to walk with its hind legs for up to about an hour. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

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.

Negin Ekhpulwak, leader of the Zohra orchestra, an ensemble of 35 women, practises on a piano at Afghanistan's National Institute of Music, in Kabul, Afghanistan April 9, 2016. Playing instruments was banned under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, and even today, many conservative Muslims frown on most forms of music. Living in an orphanage in the capital, Kabul, 19-year-old Negin Ikhpolwak leads an ensemble of 35 women that plays both Western and Afghan musical instruments. In a country notorious internationally for harsh restrictions on women in most areas of life, Negin's story highlights a double challenge. (Photo by Ahmad Masood/Reuters)

Tomomi Ota visits a local shrine with her humanoid robot Pepper in Tokyo, Japan, 26 June 2016. Reaching 120cm in height and 28 kilograms in weight, Pepper does not enter in the category of portable robot. But those characteristics dont stop Tomomi Ota to take Pepper in a cart to stroll in her neighborhood, go shopping or even take the subway... (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA)