Contestants perform during the semifinals of the first Miss Colonia pageant hosted by the Factoría nightclub in Veracruz, Mexico, Sunday, March 5, 2023. The nightclub held the pageant as part of annual Women’s Day events and the only requirement for contestants was to prove residency in working-class areas of the city, known as “colonias”. Prizes originally covered utility bills and property taxes, but when the event attracted more sponsors the prizes expanded to include cash, travel, dental work, spas and makeovers. (Photo by Felix Marquez/AP Photo)

A masquerade dances to drums along the streets during the kankurang Festival in Janjanbureh on January 27, 2024. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005, Kankurang, a combination of the Mandingo words “kango” and “Kurango”, literally translated as “voice” and “force”, ensures the transmission and teaching of the values and practices that form the basis of Mandingo cultural identity, a West African people whose historical home was the Mali empire. (Photo by Muhamadou Bittaye/AFP Photo)

Raquel Poti poses for photographers during the “Amigos da Onça” street party on the second day of Carnival on February 10, 2024 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

Christopher Blevins from the USA in action on his way winning the Cross Country Short Track Elite Men UCI XCC Mountain Bike World Series race in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, 25 May 2025. (Photo by Maxime Schmid/EPA)

A Mark IV tank, part of the parade at the Lord Mayor's Show in London. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). November 1917

A Poison Ivy and Boba Fet (Star Wars) cosplayer during the MCM Birmingham Comic Con at NEC Arena on March 18, 2017 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Ollie Millington/Getty Images)

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.

Nigel Lamb from Great Britain, left, leading Juan Velarde of Spain, centre, and Martin Šonka of Czech Republic in the FAI Red Bull air race, Isle of Wight, UK on August 9, 2016. (Photo by Joerg Mitter/Red Bull/Global New/PA Wire)