The Sheep watch the sunset from the top of Cleeve Hill, Cheltenham, United Kingdom on June 22, 2020. (Photo by Jack Boskett/The Telegraph)

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.

The Dynasphere, an electrically-driven wheel, invented by Mr. J. A. Purves of Taunton and his son. It had 2.5 horse power and once attained a speed of 25 mph. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). 1932

Budgies feed on seeds from a local visitor's hands at Ocean Park in metro Manila, Philippines September 10, 2016. (Photo by Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)

A handout picture provided by the Vatican Media shows Pope Francis holding a flag of Ukraine that was sent to him from the Ukrainian town of Bucha during the weekly general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall, in Vatican City, 06 April 2022. The pontiff lamented the “massacre of Bucha”, in the Kyiv suburb where dozens of bodies in civilian clothing have been found, and renewed his calls for an end to the war in Ukraine. (Photo by Vatican Media Handout/EPA/EFE)

A pilot demonstrates an aircraft manufactured by US-based LIFT Aircraft in front of Osaka Castle in Osaka on March 14, 2023. (Photo by JIJI Press/AFP Phoot)

People celebrate media announcing that Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Joe Biden has won the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Alphabet City neighborhood of Manhattan, in New York City, U.S. November 7, 2020. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Nepalese devotee women take a holy bath after offering prayers in Pashupathinath Temple premise during the month-long Swasthani Bratakatha festival, devoted to goddess Shree Swasthani in Kathmandu on February 8, 2016. Devotees recite Holy Scripture and women pray for wellbeing of their spouses throughout the month-long fast. (Photo by Skanda Gautam via ZUMA Wire)