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.

Workers clean the premises of Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, December 16, 2020. The Pashupatinath Temple in Nepal reopened for devotees on Wednesday morning, almost eight months after it was shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Alessandra Ambrosio shows off some cleavage during a photoshoot in Miami, Florida on January 23, 2019. She wore a leather jacket and skirt and some over sized sunglasses as she flicked her hair in the Little Havana district of Miami for Italian Elle magazine. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

Drag Queen Gaypin (R) and her friends attend the three day RuPaul's DragCon, which is billed as the “first convention celebrating drag, queer culture, & self-expression” at the Convention Center in Los Angeles, California on May 25, 2019. (Photo by Mark Ralston/AFP Photo)

A man rides his motorcycle as the sun sets in Basra, Iraq, Monday, May 9, 2022. (Photo by Nabil al-Jurani/AP Photo)

An Indian boy sells flowers to Hindu devotees of Lord Shiva as they perform rituals after collecting water from the river Ganges during the holy month of Shravan, In Allahabad on July 22, 2019. Shravan is considered the holiest month in the Hindu calendar with many religious festivals and ceremonies. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)

People experience INTO SIGHT, a large-scale installation by Sony Design, where audience behaviour influences the visuals and soundscape in London on 16 September 2022. It combines Sony's Crystal LED display systems, which recently replaced green screen technology in one of the biggest developments in film production, with generative sound, see-through glass walls and mirrors. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Alamy Live News)

People look at a skeleton couple kissing installation dubbed “Till Death Do Us Part” during a Valentine's Day event in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, February 13, 2024. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)