American actress Caylee Cowan attends the OK! Magazine NYFW Party at PhD, Dream Downtown Hotel Rooftop on September 10, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/OK! Magazine/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Actress and singer Jennifer Lopez is sprawl over her new lingerie line. The US beauty, 53, poses in a turquoise bra and knickers on a bed in Positano, Amalfi Coast, Italy in the second decade of April 2023. (Photo by The Mega Agency)

Dayane Mello attends the photocall for the television miniseries “The Young Pope” at the 73rd Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, September 3, 2016. (Photo by Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters)

Gloria Grahame in state of undress in a scene from the film “Naked Alibi”, 1954. (Photo by Universal/Getty Images)

People wear face masks as they ride an E-scooter in the Old Elbe Tunnel in Hamburg, Germany, Thursday, October 15, 2020. To avoid the spread of the coronavirus the use of a face mask in the 117-year-old tunnel under the Elbe river is mandatory. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

American singer-songwriter and actress Reneé Rapp gets slimed at the Kids’ Choice Awards on July 13, 2024 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by reneerapp/Instagram)

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.

Model Olivia Culpo (L) and host Nick Jonas, after getting slimed, backstage during Nickelodeon's 28th Annual Kids' Choice Awards held at The Forum on March 28, 2015 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Lester Cohen/KCA2015/WireImage)