British comedian Elf Lyons performing her solo show, Talk Dirty, at Monkey Barrel Comedy club at Edinburgh festival in capital of Scotland on August 5, 2021. The Edinburgh international festival announced much-reduced programme this year. (Photo by Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian)

Indonesian soldiers wearing facemasks and personal protective equipment take a part in a sack race during games to celebrate ahead of the country's 75th Independence Day in Surabaya, East Java on August 14, 2020. Indonesia will mark its 75th Independence Day on August 17. (Photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo)

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.

Mary Hickey poses with her collection of dolls at her home in Ashbourne, Ireland October 9, 2013. Hickey has been collecting the dolls for over thirty years and now owns over 420 dolls. (Photo by Cathal McNaughton/Reuters)

Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge plays a stroke of golf during a visit to meet young people supported by the Cheesy Waffles Project, a charity for children, young people and adults with additional needs across County Durham, at the Belmont Community Centre, in Durham, north east England on April 27, 2021. (Photo by Andy Commins/Pool via AFP Photo)

Volunteers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) carry the body of a victim of the Covid-19 coronavirus to a cemetery in Hlegu Township in Yangon on July 10, 2021. (Photo by Ye Aung Thu/AFP Photo)

An ascetic performs yoga at his makeshift tent near the banks of Sangam -the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati river during the Magh Mela festival in Allahabad on January 28, 2022. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)

People walk past a burnt bus near Sri Lanka's former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's official residence, a day after it was torched by protesters in Colombo on May 10, 2022. Five people were killed and more than 225 wounded in a wave of violence in Sri Lanka where the prime minister resigned after weeks of protests over the worsening economic crisis. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)