A woman looks at a handgun at the Glock booth at the Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show, Tuesday, January 19, 2016, in Las Vegas. The SHOT Show, the world's largest annual trade show for shooting, hunting and law enforcement professionals, runs through January 23 and is expected to feature 1,600 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to more than 62,000 attendees. (Photo by John Locher/AP Photo)

A woman holds-up a white T-shirt trying to prevent being shot, as Palestinians flee Gaza City to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din street in Bureij, Tuesday, November 7, 2023. (Photo by Mohammed Dahman/AP Photo)

Actors Patrick Brammall and Anne Hathaway seen on the set of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” in Brooklyn on August 05, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Aeon/GC Images)

Milan Fashion Week Women SS 2020 – ETRO Spring/Summer 2020 show in Milan, Italy on September 20, 2019. Top model Irina Shayk and other models leaving Etro Fashion Show. (Photo by Pierre Teyssot/Splash News and Pictures)

Nyaueth by Peter Zelewski – £2,000 third prize winner. This was taken near London’s Oxford Street as part of Zelewski’s series Beautiful Strangers. Zelewski explains: ‘The aim of Beautiful Strangers is to challenge the concept of traditional beauty with a series of spontaneous street portraits of everyday citizens who show character, uniqueness and a special inner quality’. (Photo by Peter Zelewski/Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2015)

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.