In this November 18, 2014 photo, Murshida, 12, sits on the lap of her mother Marjina as the train leaves for their village in West Bengal, at a railway station in New Delhi, India. Six months ago, Marjina stepped off a train in New Delhi with her two children, hoping to find a better life after her husband abandoned them without so much as a goodbye. The family spent their days at a landfill picking through other people’s garbage to find salvageable bits to resell or recycle. After six months of poverty, illness and shame, they returned to that train station in New Delhi, headed back to an uncertain future to their hometown in West Bengal. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP 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.

Servicemen of “Kiev 12” military defence battalion react as they take part in a welcoming ceremony in central Ukrainian capital Kiev December 6, 2014. Servicemen of the battalion returned to Kiev after taking part in fighting in eastern Ukraine. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

Tahiti, French Polynesia, June 5, 2016: Surfer Courtney Conlogue. ESPN The Magazine's The Body Issue set out seven years ago with one mission: to celebrate and explore the athletic form through powerful images and interviews. The cornerstone of each annual issue is The Bodies We Want photo portfolio, which features roughly 20 of the world's most elite athletes posing nude. (Photo by Steven Lippman for ESPN The Magazine Body Issue)

Rainey Qualley and Margaret Qualley attend the Vanity Fair Oscar party in Beverly Hills during the 92nd Academy Awards, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., February 9, 2020. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Reuters)

English reality television personality and country music singer Megan Elizabeth McKenna is seen at Soho House on May 24, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

Debutantes are photographed at the 68th International Debutante Ball at the Plaza Hotel in New York, New York, USA, 29 December 2022. The International Debutante Ball is a traditional family occasion in the New York social season. The ball provides an exciting social setting in which young women and men from all over the world meet one another, have a wonderful time, and form lasting friendships. This year's debutantes represent Belgium, England, France, Greece, Iran, Scotland, and five American states. (Photo by Peter Foley/EPA/EFE)

The singer Jennifer Lopez during her concert at the Movistar Arena, on July 13, 2025, in Madrid, Spain. The international artist, a native of New York, performs in Madrid as part of her tour “Up all night Live in 2025”. Jennifer Lopez has sold more than 80 million albums to date, accumulated more than fifteen billion plays and has nearly 28 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone. Among the awards she has won throughout her career are the American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, or the Latin Grammy Awards. (Photo by Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press via The Mega Agency)