Weimaraner with his owner enjoys riding on a Vespa in Belgrade on April 19, 2025. (Photo by Milan Maricic/ATAImages)

Armed Syrian Turkmen villagers are seen near the northern Syrian village of Yamadi, near the Turkish-Syrian border, Syria, November 24, 2015. Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on Tuesday saying it had repeatedly violated its air space, one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a NATO member country and Russia for half a century. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Martin Lacey Jr. with a lion during the premiere of the Circus Krone program “Circus der Preistraeger” at Circus Krone on February 2, 2016 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Hannes Magerstaedt/Getty Images)

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 woman takes selfie as municipal workers use cranes to lift carcass of Bryde whale at the Juhu beach, in Mumbai, India, Friday, January 29, 2016. Marine biologists in India were conducting an autopsy on the carcass of 35-foot long Bryde whale that washed ashore on a popular beach in the western city of Mumbai. The beached mammal which appeared to have died at sea two or three days ago was spotted on the beach Thursday by late evening walkers, who informed police. (Photo by Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo)

Revellers celebrate New Year's Day in central Moscow, Russia, January 1, 2016. (Photo by Tatyana Makeyeva/Reuters)

In this Thursday, April 16, 2015 photo provided by Robert MacFarlane, a raccoon climbs up a skyscraper in downtown Toronto. Social media was abuzz Thursday with the photo of the raccoon peering from between the metallic rungs of a crane 58 stories high. (Photo by Robert MacFarlane)

Vincent Yu is a multiple award winner who won Honorable Mention in the 2013 Photographer of the Year category for Pictures of the Year International. Photo: A statue of Hotei Buddha sits in the debris in the tsunami-destroyed town of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan Friday, April 1, 2011. (Photo by Vincent Yu/AP Photo)