Kashmiri vegetable vendors assemble at a floating market in the interiors of the Dal Lake in Srinagar April 17, 2012. (Photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters)

A peacock walks next to the Monastery of the Holy Apostles, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, northern Israel November 30, 2016. About 1 million tourists from abroad visit the Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Tiberias or Kinneret, each year, according to the Israeli Tourism Ministry. (Photo by Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)

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.

A brown bear waits for food at the zoo in Madrid, Spain on July 30, 2016. (Photo by Jorge Sanz/Pacific Press/SIPA Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Dozens of people participate in the religious pilgrimage to the National Shrine of El Rincon, in the municipality of Boyeros, in Havana, Cuba, 17 December 2018. As is customary every year, thousands of people in mass attend the shrine to pay tribute to Saint Lazarus, to whom the faithful come for personal requests and miracles. (Photo by Ernesto Mastrascusa/EPA/EFE)

A woman rides her horse in the River Eden on Friday June 10, 2022, on Day 2 of the Appleby Horse Fair, the annual gathering of gypsies and travellers. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Wire Press Association)

A Hindu devotee drinks water from the Ganges River at the Sangam area, the confluence of rivers Ganges, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati, in Allahabad on March 16, 2021. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)

A young girl dressed as living goddess Kumari drinks juice as she waits for Kumari Puja, a worship ritual at Hanuman Dhoka, Basantapur Durbar Square, Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, September 27, 2023. Girls under the age of nine gathered for the tradition of worshiping young prepubescent girls as manifestations of the divine female energy. The ritual holds a strong religious significance in the Newar community that seeks divine blessings to save small girls from diseases and bad luck in the years to come. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)