American singer-songwriter and actress Olivia Isabel Rodrigo poses outside of Amoeba music in Los Angeles, California at the end of August 2021, as her debut album, “Sour”, gets released on vinyl. (Photo by Instagram)

People cling on to a crowded train as it leaves a railway station during the ongoing Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Ghaziabad, India, September 21, 2021. (Photo by Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters)

A clown performs next to the Monument to the Revolution as he takes part in the Latin American Clown Convention in Mexico City, Mexico, October 21, 2015. The convention will be held from October 19 to 22 in Mexico City. (Photo by Henry Romero/Reuters)

Firefighters use flashlights to search for survivors among the rubble of collapsed buildings after a landslide hit an industrial park in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China December 20, 2015. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

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.

People react following an Israeli air strike on Palestinian houses, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 12, 2023. (Photo by Fadi Shana/Reuters)

Charlotte fights a monster with a “wand” in her bedroom in Laure Fauvel's “Terreurs”, 2014, in Paris, France. An imaginative photographer has brought to life monsters that haunt children's nightmares. Armed with sticks, wands and swords the eight and nine year-olds appear to be getting the upper-hand against the villains. Parisian photographer Laure Fauvel, 22, said: I wanted the children not be victims and to fight the monsters. (Photo by Laure Fauvel/Barcroft Media)

A German contestant adjusts his helmet during the “Battle of Nations” in Aigues-Mortes, southern France, Friday, May 10, 2013 where Middle Ages fans attend the historical medieval battle competition. The championship will be attended by 22 national teams, which is twice the number it was last year. The battle lasts until May 12. (Photo by Philippe Farjon/AP Photo)