Police, bystanders and soldiers aid a fallen soldier at the War Memorial as police respond to an apparent terrorist attack on October 22, 2014 in Ottawa, Canada. A gunman is believed to have shot a soldier as he was standing guard at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. It is believed police then chased the man into the main parliament building at Parliament Hill, where more shots were fired. (Photo by Wayne Cuddington/Postmedia/Barcroft Media/ABACAPress)

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.

U.S. Capitol Police remove protesters after they began shouting in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing as Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought begins to testify on the rescissions package, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Photo by J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

A woman carries earthen pots to fill them with drinking water on a hot summer day, on the outskirts of Ajmer, Rajasthan, India April 25, 2017. (Photo by Himanshu Sharma/Reuters)

A Thai veterinarian takes a picture of a 2-year-old orangutan during a health examination at Kao Pratubchang Conservation Centre in Ratchaburi, Thailand, August 27, 2015. Thai veterinarians from the Department of National Park Wildlife, and Plant Conservation conducted a health check of 14 orangutans for preparation for the repatriation to their country of origin, Indonesia. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

Iranian chess player Sara Khadem competes, without wearing a hijab, in FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan December 26, 2022, in this picture obtained by Reuters on December 27, 2022. (Photo by Lennart Ootes/FIDE/via Reuters)

Schoolchildren with face paint resembling tigers take part in a “Kids for Tigers” campaign in Bangalore, India 27 January 2023. The campaign tries to raise awareness on environmental education with outreach programs, workshops, and information on saving tigers in schools and colleges across the country. (Photo by Jagadeesh N.V./EPA/EFE)

A hyena stands chained to its handler at a circus in Gabasawa, Kano State, Nigeria, July 27, 2021. Hyenas are often viewed as repulsive and sinister, partly due to their scavenging habits in the wild, but in northern Nigeria some men keep the creatures in their homes, display them at festivals and even use their dung to make remedies. (Photo by Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)