Malaysian firemen make their way to a designated area to spray disinfectant, in an effort to combat coronavirus and COVID-19, at the entrance to a school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 14 April 2020. According to media reports, Malaysia has confirmed over 4,000 cases of coronavirus and COVID-19. (Photo by Ahmad Yusni/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

An Iranian woman wearing a face mask walks on a street in Tehran, Iran, 19 October 2020. According to the Iranian Health ministry, Iran reported its highest daily COVID-19 death toll of 337 and 4,251 new infections in past 24 hours as it appears that Iran is in a third wave of COVID-19 outbreak. (Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA/EFE)

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.

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.

Indonesian women wearing masks as a precaution against the coronavirus outbreak sit at a food stall near a mural in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, September 21, 2020. (Photo by Dita Alangkara/AP Photo)

A mural depicting NHS nurse Melanie Senior, based on a photograph by Johannah Churchill, which The National Portrait Gallery commissioned artist Peter Barber to create in Manchester's Northern Quarter, on October 19, 2020 in Manchester, England. Greater Manchester's leaders including Mayor Andy Burnham will want better financial arrangements for workers affected before they agree for the region to be moved into a Tier 3 Covid-19 lockdown. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Experts of the Anti-Mine Center of the Russian Defense Ministry clear mines at a motorway linking the cities of Stepanakert and Goris in Nagorno-Karabakh on November 23, 2020. (Photo by Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS)

A woman dressed for la “La Diablada” festival walks down a road in Pillaro, Ecuador, Friday, January 6, 2017. Local legend holds that anyone who adopts a costume for the celebration and wears it at the event six years in a row will have good luck. (Photo by Dolores Ochoa/AP Photo)