“Touring the Koko-en Gardens adjacent to the Himeji castle was an unexpected highlight of our visit”, wrote Jeff Solar, 64, of Silver Spring, Md., about his trip to Japan. “The fall colors were outstanding and the gardens were both amazing and a bargain (just a few Yen added to the cost of the Himeji Castle admission)”. (Photo by Jeff Solar/2017 Washington Post Travel Photo Contest)

Actors perform the living Nativity biblical scenes in Postojna cave in Postojna, Slovenia, December 22, 2015. (Photo by Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters)

Volunteers receive a professional massage from qualified therapists as they break a world record for the largest ever simultaneous massage during Massage en Masse at Lavandula Lavender Farm on March 30, 2010 in Daylesford, Australia. Two hundred and sixty three massage therapists each massaged a volunteer, breaking the former world record of 167, set in 2009 in Washington DC. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

An actor carries a cross as he plays the role of Jesus Christ in a re-enactment of the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) during a Holy Week procession, in preparation for Good Friday celebrations, in Luque, Paraguay, on March 27, 2013. Holy Week is celebrated in many Christian traditions during the week before Easter. (Photo by Jorge Adorno/Reuters)

Actors and figurants participate in the staging of the Live Stations of the Cross and Procession of the Dead Lord during the celebration of the easter in the Medieval Village of Ourem, Portugal, 15 April 2022. The Live Stations of the Cross is dramatized by about 100 actors and extras from the local community, besides the requalification of the Castle and Palace of the Counts of Ourem that will provide a new setting, a new protagonist will embody Jesus Christ along the 14 stations of the Stations of the Cross. (Photo by Paulo Cunha/EPA/EFE)

(L-R) Actors Oscar Sinela, Luis Fernandez, Ursula Corbero, Amaia Salamanca, Maxi Iglesias and Alba Ribas attend “XP3D” premiere at the Callao cinema on December 27, 2011 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Carlos Alvarez/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.

Actors perform a scene in a film directed by Humam Husari in the rebel-held besieged town of Zamalka, in the Damascus suburbs, Syria September 19, 2016. (Photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)