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)

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.

(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)

Actor Kurt Tocci leaps for photographers at the premiere of the AMC series “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live”, Wednesday, February 7, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/AP Photo)

Actors Rooney Mara, left, and Joaquin Phoenix arrive at the premiere of “Joker: Folie a Deux” on Monday, September 30, 2024, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Photo)

French actress Sophie Marceau and Irish actor Pierce Brosnan in film “The World is Not Enough” by Michael Apted, 1999. (Photo by Keith Hamshere/Sygma via Getty Images)

American actress Sarah Hyland at arrivals for 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards – Part 2, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA January 19, 2020. (Photo by Monica Almeida/Reuters)

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)