Rwandan woman drummers perform during the photocall for “The Book of Life” at the Edinburgh International Festival on August 11, 2022 in Edinburgh, Scotland.The Women Drummers of Rwanda,have broken with tradition to empower women to take part in a exhilarating and liberating of musical art-form. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/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.

In this May 4, 2014 photo, a miner holds an amalgam of mercury and gold he mined after working a 28-hour shift at an illegal gold mining process, in La Pampa, in Peru's Madre de Dios region. Thousands of artisanal gold miners sweat through the long shifts and endure, for a few grams of gold, the perils of collapsing earth, limb-crushing machinery and the toxic mercury used to bind gold flecks. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

A Chinese woman poses for a photo in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic that was created with other floral decorations in advance of the country's national holidays, also known as Golden week on September 28, 2020 in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st.(Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

A herd of wild monkeys ask for food from passing vehicles along a mountain road after a snowfall on October 20, 2020 in Luhuo County, Sichuan Province of China. (Photo by Jin Shujie/VCG via Getty Images)

Ukrainian law enforcement officers restrain an activist of women's rights group Femen, who holds a protest outside the presidential administration headquarters while marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in Kyiv, Ukraine on November 25, 2020. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

British singer Rita Ora performs during the 43rd annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade at the SCG in Sydney, Australia, 06 March 2021. (Photo by Dan Himbrechts/EPA/EFE)

Chaps, flaneurs, dandies and dandizettes in their stylish outfits once again meet beside the statue of Beau Brummell on Jermyn Street for a relaxed stroll around St James', Piccadilly Arcade to Piccadilly Circus and Soho in London on May 11, 2025. The annual fun walk is organised by “The Chap” magazine. (Photo by Alamy Live News)