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.

Hillary Clinton waves to a selfie-taking crowd at a recent campaign event in Orlando, Florida on September 26, 2016. (Photo by Barbara Kinney/Hillary for America)

Models on the catwalk Yeezy: Season 4 show, Spring Summer 2017, New York Fashion Week, USA on September 7, 2016. (Photo by Your Name/BFA/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A model attends a fashion show at the “German Fetish Ball” in Berlin, Germany on May 12, 2018. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

Indonesian soldiers take part in a handling riots practice ahead of the elections at their military home base in Banda Aceh, Aceh province on April 9, 2019. (Photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP Photo)

Kamila Valieva, of the Russian Olympic Committee, reacts after competing in the women's free skate program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Thursday, February 17, 2022, in Beijing. (Photo by David J. Phillip/AP Photo)

A Western honey bee feeds off acacia pollen at an apiary in Nagyszenas, eastern Hungary, 25 April 2020. The preparation of the bees for the acacia bloom began two weeks later than usual this year; due to the late frosts, this season's yield of Hungaricum acacia honey is expected to be lower. (Photo by Tibor Rosta/EPA/EFE)

A lynx in a wintry forest investigates a remote camera in the last decade of January 2025. Four lynx were recently illegally released into the Cairngorms, in the Scottish Highlands, and were rescued by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, although one subsequently died. (Photo by Brian Matthews/Solent News)