A man pours fake fuel on the face of a protester as they perform at a demonstration against the fossil fuel industry during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 7, 2021. (Photo by Yves Herman/Reuters)

A woman wears a mask with printed lips, amid the spread of the new coronavirus in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, April 30, 2020. (Photo by Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

Model friends Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Stella Maxwell and actress Kristen Stewart and are seen having dinner together in Milan, Italy on June 16, 2018. Bella and Kendall cheekily showed the camera middle finger while couple Stella and Kristen talked. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

In this Wednesday, September 12, 2018, file photo, vendors carry banana on their heads at a fruit and vegetable market in Peshawar, Pakistan. Pakistan says it will seek a bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund to address a mounting balance of payments crisis, Finance Minister Asad Umar said Monday. (Photo by Muhammad Sajjad/AP Photo)

Dancers resting on the rooftop of the SKD Theatre Asakusa, Tokyo, 1949. (Photo by Tanuma Takeyoshi/The Guardian)

A staff member of a toy store wears a face mask as she invites customers to enter the store, in London, Tuesday, September 22, 2020. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has slammed the brakes on the country's return to offices, saying people should work from home if possible to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Johnson on Tuesday announced a package of new restrictions, including a requirement for pubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues in England to close between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. (Photo by Frank Augstein/AP Photo)

In this December 8, 2020 file photo, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro playfully sprays a journalist with disinfectant as he exits a press conference at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, amid the new coronavirus pandemic. Attorneys for the cash-strapped government blame the impact of U.S. sanctions for its inability to make an initial $18 million down payment to the United Nations for doses of the U.N.-supplied vaccines, whose deadline has already passed. (Photo by Matias Delacroix/AP Photo/File)

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.