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.

A model (R) wearing a dress adorned with chocolate stands backstage prior to a fashion show during the annual “Salon du Chocolat” expo in Seoul, South Korea on January 10, 2020. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

Kashmiri woman takes part in a physical test of a recruitment rally for the Special Police Officers (SPO) in Jammu and Kashmir Police, in Srinagar on December 6, 2019. As many as 23,000 people have applied for posts in the Special Police Officers (SPO) in Jammu and Kashmir Police and 100 positions will filled in the current phase of recruitment, local authorities said. (Photo by Tauseef Mustafa/AFP Photo)

A New Orleans Saints fan parties in the stands in the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in New Orleans, Monday, August 23, 2021. Last season the team played with a marginal number of fans in a largely empty Superdome due to the coronavirus pandemic, but this year fans are allowed with proof of vaccination. (Photo by Derick Hingle/AP Photo)

Children play with the waves at the Malecon in Havana, on September 29, 2022, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. Authorities were slowly restoring electricity in Cuba following a power outage in the country caused by Hurricane Ian, which killed two people and left widespread damage. (Photo by Yamil Lage/AFP Photo)

Ahead of May Day, AFP' s video and photo teams spoke to men and women around the globe whose jobs are becoming increasingly rare, particularly as technology transforms societies. Here: Mohammad Ashgar, 65, an Indian rickshaw puller, poses for a photograph next to his rickshaw in Kolkata on April 21, 2018. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP Photo)

Iraqi women practice at the sports club in Diwaniya, Iraq on November 10, 2018. On the blue mats of the al-Rafideen Club in the conservative city of Diwaniya, some 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, some 30 female wrestlers, some still wearing headscarves, train three times a week. When a big competition comes up, they train every day. (Photo by Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters)

People are captured by FLIR (Forward-Looking Infrared) HD Thermal Imaging Cameras as they walk near the FLIR exhibit at the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES 2019 in Las Vegas on January 10, 2019. (Photo by David McNew/AFP Photo)