British actress Millie Bobby Brown in the last decade of February 2025 shows off a very 90s denim look. (Photo by miliebobbybrown/Instagram)

American actress Drea de Matteo in Halloween costume in the last decade of October 2025, (Photo by Ashlee Krutzfeldt)

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.

Is it strange to party in a cemetery, do you think? Thousands, many elaborately dressed and made up, thronged the Hollywood Forever cemetery on October 30th to celebrate the Day of the Dead with music, dancing, food and artistic renditions of family altars, all among the graves of Rudolph Valentino, Marion Davies, Tyrone Power, Douglas Fairbanks and Johnny Ramone.

British television actress Tracy Shaw poses during a photoshoot held in 2000, in England. (Photo by Stephen Perry/Getty Images)

American actress and model Barbie Ferreira shows off her figure on New Year’s Eve. (Photo by barbieferreira/Instagram)

Italian-American actress and model Julia Fox is seen on April 28, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachpoot/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

American actress Sydney Sweeney rolls around in the grass during a photoshoot early July 2025. (Photo by sydney_sweeney/Instagram)