Actress Laverne Cox attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS)

People dressed as zombies take part in a “Zombie Walk” parade in Athens, Greece, February 25, 2017. (Photo by Michalis Karagiannis/Reuters)

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.

Employees of a food stand take pictures of Titan, a robot created by England Cyberstein Robots, performing at the Danilovsly market in downtown of Moscow, Russia, 12 May 2014. Titan visited to Moscow to attend “Bal Robotov”, an interactive exhibition of the most recent advances in robotics which will be opened on 15 May in Artplay Moscow exhibition center. Titan worked alongside superstars including Will.i.am, Rihanna, Will Smith and Jackie Chan. (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA)

The Jeremy Scott Fall 2016 collection is modeled during Fashion Week in New York, Monday, February 15, 2016. (Photo by Richard Drew/AP Photo)

Three prostitutes lean out of a window in Santiago, Chile, in an attempt to entice customers inside, circa 1950. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images)

Actor Bruce Willis and wife Emma Heming arrive at the premiere of the HBO documentary 'His Way' at Paramount Studios on March 22, 2011 in Hollywood, California.

TV personality Meredith Marks at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas, NV on Friday, November 14, 2025. (Photo by: Griffin Nagel/Bravo via Getty Images)