A traveler arriving from Philadelphia carries his dog, Luna, in a backpack at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday, November 27, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo)

Actress and singer Rachel Zegler attends the World Premiere of Disney's Snow White at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 15, 2025. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Disney)

New York Mets' Luisangel Acuña is introduced before a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, April 4, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

People gather beneath rainbow lights following Cinespia’s screening of “The Wizard of Oz” at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, presented by Amazon Studios & Prime Video, on July 31, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. Summer screenings have returned to the iconic cemetery after a hiatus amid the pandemic last summer. Actress Judy Garland is laid to rest at the cemetery where many movie legends are buried. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Models sit backstage during an outdoor show at Dakar Fashion week on December 12, 2020 just outside Dakar, Senegal. With Senegal's low incidence of Covid-19, Dakar's marquee fashion event looked markedly more normal than its counterparts in other global capitals, whose fashion weeks were heavily curtailed or canceled. (Photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/Getty Images)

Dancer Beth Bracegirdle of the Balbir Singh Dance Company practises at the Billingham Forum pool in Billingham, UK on July 20, 2016, ahead of the 52nd Billingham international folklore festival of world dance in August. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)

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.

Contestants congratulate Chelsea Morgensen (R) of Hollywood, California as she is crowned Miss Hooters International 2017 during the 21st Annual Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant at The Pearl concert theater at Palms Casino Resort on July 12, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Alamy Stock Photo)