Musician Jerome Gamble plays guitar to accompany the recorded music as it is played to the city below on September 01, 2020 in Bristol, England. Created by Bristol-based artist Luke Jerram and composer Dan Jones, “Sky Orchestra – A Moment in Time” was first performed at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta in 2003. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)

US actress Glenn Close, US actress Sarah Paulson, US actress Teyana Taylor, US reality TV personality Kim Kardashian, US actress Niecy Nash-Betts and British actress Naomi Watts pose during a photocall for the premiere of “All's Fair” TV series in Paris on October 21, 2025. (Photo by Bertrand Guay/AFP Photo)

Girls Aloud: Nicola Roberts, Kimberley Walsh, Sarah Harding and Cheryl Cole at Kimberley Walsh's birthday party hosted by Damian Darkko at Mint Nightclub in London, Britain on November 25, 2006. The Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding has died at the age of 39, her mother has said in a post on Instagram. Issue date: Sunday September 5, 2021. (Photo by Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A homeless man sleeps against a wall adorned with a mural featuring a Shipibo Indigenous girl and Amazon rainforest animals, in Pucallpa, in Peru's Ucayali region, Wednesday, September 2, 2020. Peru is home to one of Latin America's largest Indigenous populations, whose ancestors lived in the Andean country before the arrival of Spanish colonists. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Members of the Radio City Rockettes rehearse for the “2022 Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes” in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., October 19, 2022. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

A man dressed as a zombie poses during the Thrill The World 2009 event, which sees fans from all over the world dance simultaneous to Michael Jackson's “Thriller” at Luna Park on October 25, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

A mine detection rat is given banana as a reward after successfully identifying an inactive mine on July 2, 2015 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) working with the Belgian NGO APOPO has recently begun testing the feasability of using large mine detection rats from Tanzania to help clear fields of mines and unexploded ordnance in one of the most bombed and mined countries in the world. (Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images)

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.