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.

Ariel Almiron and Alumine Deluchi compete in the final round of the Tango World Championship stage category, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, September 25, 2021. (Photo by Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo)

Greetings, sickly monkeys! Planet Nibiru is near already. Confess, parasites! Love you! Yours truly, Avax

The hot air balloon “Hopper T Frog” from Park City, Utah, peeks over the red rock cliffs during the 23nd Annual Red Rock Balloon Rally at Red Rock State Park December 6, 2003 near Gallup, New Mexico. (Photo By Douglas Tesner/Getty Images)

The spectacular sequence shows the divers reaching out and even petting the 1,000-pound predators as the inquisitive beasts happily pose for the camera. Other pictures show the sharks appearing to swim with the divers as they move towards the water’s surface. The photographs were taken at Tiger Beach, Grand Bahama by photographer, Steve Hinczynski (49) from Venice, Florida, USA. To take his images Steve used a Canon 7D Mark II camera equipped with Ikelite underwater housing. (Photo by Steve Hinczynski/Mediadrumworld)

In this Tuesday, August 2, 2016 photo released by Xinhua News Agency, people stand on a platform as the Transit Elevated Bus TEB-1 conducting a test run after it unveiled in Qinhuangdao, north China's Hebei Province. The 72-feet long and 25-feet wide Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) powered by electricity can carry more than hundreds passengers, is designed to go over the normal traffic to help ease traffic congestion without having to dig new tunnels or build elevated rail tracks. (Photo by Luo Xiaoguang/Xinhua via AP Photo)

A child dressed as an Ewok character participates in a Star Wars parade in Mexico City, Saturday, October 15, 2022. (Photo by Marco Ugarte/AP Photo)

Laura Ford’s 1991 sculpture Twiglet has been installed at Thirsk Hall Sculpture Garden, North Yorkshire, UK in the last decade of April 2024. (Photo by James Glossop/The Times)