The Euro sculpture is partially reflected in a puddle on a cobblestone pavement in front of the headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt on Jan. 21. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

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.

An Afghan laborer works at a brick kiln, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, 24 February 2020. Afghan President Ghani said on 21 February, said that a seven-day reduction in violence promised by the Taliban will determine the government's next steps in Afghanistan's peace process. The Taliban has announced a decrease in hostilities in an agreement with the United States as a preliminary step to signing a peace deal with Washington on 29 February. (Photo by Ghulamullah Habibi/EPA/EFE)

Animal rights activists protest in front of the Toennies meatpacking plant and slaughterhouse in Rheda-Wiedenbrueck, Germany, Saturday, June 20, 2020. Hundreds of new coronavirus cases are linked to the large meatpacking plant, officials ordered the closure of the slaughterhouse, as well as isolation and tests for everyone else who had worked at the Toennies site – putting about 7,000 people under quarantiner. (Photo by Friso Gentsch/dpa via AP Photo)

South Vietnamese-born designer Quasar drives the six-foot long square-shaped plastic car he built and which is scheduled to be a hit with the young driving set, in Paris, June 23, 1967. The car can be driven at speeds of up to 60 mph (Photo by Michel Laurent/AP Photo)

A pro-democracy demonstrator fights with a Soviet soldier on top of a tank parked in front of the Russian Federation building on August 19, 1991, after a coup toppled Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. The same day, thousands in Moscow, Leningrad, and other cities answered Russian Republic President Boris Yeltsin's call to raise barricades against tanks and troops. (Dima Tanin/AFP/Getty Images)

A girl stands with arms outstretched at North Narrabeen on January 27, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. Around 30 indigenous children from Brewarrina, Weilmoringle, and Goodooga in the far North West NSW travelled to Sydney to participate in the program. The initiative is part of the Bush to Beach programme, which now in its 19th year, gives indigenous children a unique opportunity to learn and explore Sydney's beach culture. (Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

An Afghan refugee girl shows her younger brother a calf in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, February 6, 2015. (Photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP Photo)