Shiite Muslims gather, albeit in fewer numbers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at the Imam Ali shrine in the central Iraqi holy city of Najaf late on May 16, 2020, to mark Lailat al-Qadr, a night in the holy month of Ramadan during which the Koran was first revealed to the Prophet Mohammed in the seventh century. Worshippers placed copies of the Koran on their heads to convey veneration during the overnight prayers in a centuries-old ritual, as they pleaded to God to rid them of the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Haidar Hamdani/AFP Photo)

A traditional Chinese opera actress wearing a face shield poses for a picture during Lunar New Year celebrations in Bangkok, Thailand, February 12, 2021. (Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters)

Lawmakers fight around the rostrum during the first session of Ukraine's newly elected parliament in Kiev, Ukraine, December 13, 2012. (Photo by Sergei Chuzavkov/Associated Press)

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.

Syrian civil defence volunteers, known as the White Helmets, rescue a boy from the rubble following a reported barrel bomb attack on the Bab al- Nairab neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on November 24, 2016. (Photo by Ameer Alhalbi/AFP Photo)

Natalia Williams dressed as Corpse Bride Emily and Tony Knight as a Mandalorian, arrive at the Bradford Unleashed Comic-Con, an entertainment and comic book convention in England on March 8, 2020. (Photo by Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)

A helicopter flies close to a volcanic eruption which has begun in Fagradalsfjall near the capital Reykjavik on March 20, 2021 in Fagradalsfjall, Iceland. On Friday the Icelandic meteorological office announced a volcano, referring to a mountain located south-west of the Capital Reykjavik has erupted after thousands of small earthquakes in the area over the recent weeks. A no-fly zone has been established in the area. (Photo by Vilhelm Gunnarsson/Getty Images)

Danielle Collins of the US reacts to a point in the first set while playing Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark during Round Two Women's Singles tennis match of the 2019 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on August 29, 2019. (Photo by Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports)