A young girl tries to catch snow on her tongue near the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, before the start of a wreath-laying ceremony honoring the legacy of the late civil rights leader in Washington, DC on January 15, 2024. The ceremony is being held to honor the civil rights leader on the anniversary of his birthday. (Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP Photo)

Omar Proeza, dressed as Wolverine, proposes marriage to Victoria Nauri, dressed as Beast during a Comic Con in Caracas, Venezuela on November 17, 2024. (Photo by Gaby Oraa/Reuters)

An asylum-seeking migrant child from Honduras reacts as disembarking an inflatable raft after crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States from Mexico in Roma, Texas, U.S., June 8, 2021. (Photo by Go Nakamura/Reuters)

A model prepares backstage at the Meskita fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Spring 2015 on September 4, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Meskita)

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.

As the sun rises, Gentoo penguins start their day on Wednesday, February 17, 2016, on Sea Lion Island, Falkland Islands. Sea Lion Island, which lies about 10 miles to the south of mainland East Falkland, is the southern most human-inhabited island of the more than 750 islands and islets of the Falkland Islands. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

David Cassidy (1950-2017) and Kay Lenz at their wedding at The Little Church Of The West in Las Vegas, Nevada, 1977. (Photos by Brad Elterman/FilmMagic)

Yuri Gagarin does not always show up in full-scale astronautics. In this picture he smiles during his summer vacation in Sochi, Russia in 1961 with sunglasses and sunhat in the camera. (Photo by Imago/Eastnews)