Competitor Isaiah Webb attends the 2017 Remington Beard Boss World Beard & Moustache Championships held at the Long Center for the Performing Arts on September 3, 2017 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Brian Cahn/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A British soldier from 3 Commando Brigade looks through the sight of his sniper rifle at Camp Gibraltar February 24, 2003 near Kuwait City, Kuwait. (Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

“Chewbacca Mom” Candace Payne attends the 2016 CMT Music awards at the Bridgestone Arena on June 8, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

A model presents a creation from the Tom Ford Spring/Summer 2023 collection during New York Fashion Week in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., September 14, 2022. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Dear England, a play by James Graham about the former England football manager Gareth Southgate, will return to the National Theatre in March 2025. The Olivier award-winning production will be staged at the Olivier theatre in London until May 24, followed by a four-week run at the Lowry in Manchester. (Photo by Marc Brenner)

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.

Villagers cry for their relatives who were killed in an earthquake during a funeral in Longmen village, in Lushan county in southwest China's Sichuan province, on April 21, 2013. Rescuers and relief teams struggled to rush supplies into the rural hills of the area after an earthquake left at least 180 people dead and more than 11,000 injured. (Photo by Associated Press)

India cricket fans light firecrackers as they celebrate India winning the ICC Champions Trophy on a street in Varanasi, on March 9, 2025. India beat New Zealand by four wickets on March 9, 2025 in the one-day international (ODI) final to claim a record third Champions Trophy title. (Photo by Niharika Kulkarni/AFP Photo)