Members of the Washington Commanders Command Force dance during a timeout against the Seattle Seahawks during the second half at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland on November 2, 2025. (Photo by Geoff Burke/Reuters)

Suat Demir, a 52-year-old parter, smokes a cigarette after finishing his work day in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, October 2, 2025. (Photo by Emrah Gurel/AP Photo)

Brooks Nader and her sisters, Mary Holland, Grace Ann, and Sarah Jane announce Season 2 of “Love Thy Nader” with a photoshoot in Los Angeles on November 24, 2025. (Photo by Backgrid USA)

The ex-Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger climbed 1,000-plus steps of an old Honolulu railway line in Hawaii in the first decade of January 2023. (Photo by Instagram)

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.

Fires approach a home near Lower Lake, Calif., Friday, July 31, 2015. A series of wildfires were intensified by dry vegetation, triple-digit temperatures and gusting winds. The golden hills of California were being blackened Friday by a series of wildfires egged on by bone-dry vegetation, triple-digit temperatures and gusting winds. (Photo by Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)

WOOTTON, UNITED KINGDOM - APRIL 07: Hot air balloons prepare to depart from Lydden Hill race circuit near Canterbury to take part in mass crossing of the Channel on April 7, 2011 in Wootton, England. 51 balloonists of various nationalities from across Europe took off from Kent making for Calais, France at about 7am. It is the first time a Guinness World Record bid has been made for "the largest group of hot air balloons to make the Channel crossing". (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)