Jasmine Paolini hits a forehand during her first-round US Open match on Sunday, August 24, 2025 at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Ray Giubilo)

A storm is seen in Sarasota, Florida, June 24, 2018. (Courtesy of Val Vasilescu/Facebook.com/Kingofsunsets via Reuters)

Burning candles illuminate graves as a Bangladeshi man observes a contemplative moment on All Souls' Day at the Dhaka Christian Cemetery at Wari in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 02 November 2021. People on All Saints Day and All Souls Day pay respect to deceased relatives and loved ones by placing flowers on their tombs or maintaining their graves and lighting candles. (Photo by Monirul Alam/EPA/EFE)

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.

Indian commuters travel in a local train in Kolkata, India, Tuesday, February 26, 2013. Indian Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is presenting the country's rail budget for next fiscal year in the parliament Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Indian railway network is one of the world's largest, with some 14 million passengers daily and some 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of railway track cut through some of the most densely populated cities. (Photo by Bikas Das/AP Photo)

Miss Earth 2016 candidates wearing environmental statement sashes lineup during a press presentation in Manila, Philippines, 11 October 2016. Eighty three young women from around the globe converged in Manila for the international beauty event. Miss Earth is a pioneering beauty pageant that serves as a vehicle for environmental advocacy. (Photo by Mark R. Cristino/EPA)

A resident of the Goodwin House senior living community, looks on as the DC area motown band “The Tribe” plays a social distance concert in their parking lot in Arlington, Virginia, during the coronavirus pandemic on April 14, 2020. (Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP Photo)

Men wear masks as they sit in the metro in Prague, Czech Republic, 17 March 2020. According to media reports, the Czech government decided to impose a two-week quarantine in the country on the evening of 15 March, and ban all international travel from 16 March 2020. Currently 383 cases of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the Covid-19 disease, have been officially confirmed in Czech Republic. (Photo by Martin Divisek/EPA/EFE)