There were huge thunder and lightening stroms in the South of England last night. Photographer Jamie Russell captured a stuning lightening striking the sea at Freshwater Bay on the Isle of Wight on September 6, 2022. (Photo by Jamie Russell/Bournemouth News)

Rapper Future attends his “Future City” Birthday Party at Magic City on November 20, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage)

Sandy Bell stands with her golden doodle dog Ozzy looking out at the golden sunrise breaking through the tree on a cold and frosty morning at Bowden Loch near Melrose in the Scottish Borders, South Scotland on February 7, 2025. (Photo by Phil Wilkinson/The Times)

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 group of hikers atop Mount St. Helens on July 21, 2016. Mount St. Helens or Louwala-Clough is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is 96 miles south of Seattle, Washington, and 50 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Raxit Kagalwala)

Australian professional boxer Ebanie Bridges after her fight against Shannon Courtenay during the WBA World Bantamweight Title match at Copperbox Arena in London, Britain on April 10, 2021. (Photo by Andrew Couldridge/Action Images via Reuters)

A humpead wrasse, transported from Japan's southern island of Okinawa, swims with other tropical saltwater fish on display in a tank for the Sony Aquarium 2017 exhibition in Tokyo on July 31, 2017. The Sony Aquarium 2017 exhibition, featuring marine life common to the waters around Okinawa, runs until August 13. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP Photo)

Andrej Ciesielski dangels his legs off the side of a building overlooking Times Square, New York City. (Photo by Andrej Ciesielski/Caters News Agency)