Pakistani Muslims attend an Eid Al-Fitr prayer service, in Hyderabad, Pakistan, 31 March 2025. Muslims around the world have begun celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the three-day festival which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. During Eid al-Fitr, most people travel to visit each other in town or outside of it and children receive new clothes and money to spend for the occasion. (Photo by Nadeem Khawer/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.

Elena Reid of USA looks on with bloody face due to a cut during the Women's WIBF Flyweight Championship fight between Regina Halmich and Elena Reid at the Boerderlandhalle on December 3, 2005 in Magdeburg, Germany. (Photo by Christian Fischer/Getty Images)

National Geographic invites photographers from around the world to enter the 2013 National Geographic Photography Contest. The grand-prize winner will receive $10,000 (USD) and a trip to National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C., to participate in the annual National Geographic Photography Seminar in January 2014. Photo: “We just want to move to search to the Leopard at that morning but we found a group of giraffes come toward a small lake and start drinking it was a nice moment when the Giraffe finish from drinking and leave a letters “S” with motion in the air”. (Photo and caption by Majed Ali/National Geographic Photography Contest)

A man performs a split as he practices Kung Fu at Beihai Park in Beijing, China August 20, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)

Young man making the O.K. sign. (Photo by George Marks/Retrofile/Getty Images). Circa 1950s

An Indian underprivileged bride gets her jewellery adjusted by a relative during a mass marriage ceremony in New Delhi, India, March 10, 2016. Fourteen underprivileged couples tied up the nuptial knot in the mass marriage ceremony organised by various social organisations. (Photo by Rajat Gupta/EPA)

A boy takes a picture of a car crash in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, August 4, 2014. Two passengers were sent to hospital but no death was reported as a result of the accident, according to local media. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)