Ukrainian soldiers fire with D-30 artillery at Russian positions in the direction of Klishchiivka as the Russia-Ukraine war continues in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on August 12, 2023. (Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Members of kibbutz Nirim celebrate Shavuot, a Jewish holiday marking both the giving of the Torah and the wheat harvest, at the kibbutz near the border of the besieged Gaza Strip on June 1, 2025, for the first time since the October 2023 attacks by Palestinian militants. (Photo by Menahem Kahana/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.

An Egyptian horse owner cares for one of his animals at stables in Giza near the capital on May 26, 2024. (Photo by Khaled Desouki/AFP Photo)

A protestor confronts police and National Guard troops near the Wauwatosa City Hal on October 09, 2020 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. The city has faced three days of demonstrations, prompting a 7 PM curfew, after District Attorney John Chisholm refused to press charges against Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah for the Feb. 2 fatal shooting of 17-year-old Alvin Cole. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In this Wednesday, April 15, 2020 file photo, a motorcycle delivery man rides past a billboard urging people to stay home over the coronavirus pandemic in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Wealthier Western countries are considering how to ease lockdown restrictions and start taking gradual steps toward reviving business and daily life. But many developing countries, particularly in the Middle East and Africa, can hardly afford the luxury of any misstep. (Photo by Jon Gambrell/AP Photo/File)

Orthodox believers participate in a procession in St. Petersburg, Russia, 12 September 2022. The procession marks the 298th anniversary of the transfer of the relics of St. Alexander Nevsky, who is considered to be a heavenly protector of St. Petersburg. (Photo by Anatoly Maltsev/EPA/EFE)

Lily Nguyen of Jessop, from Maryland, leaps up in the air as a friend takes her photo in front of cherry blossoms which have reached their peak bloom, along the Tidal Basin, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 21, 2022. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)