American-South African actress Madelaine Petsch arrives at CBS Mornings in a grey mini skirt and jacket with white top in New York City in the last decade of September 2025. (Photo by Christopher Peterson/Splash News and Pictures)

Brazilian model and TV presenter Sabrina Sato from the Gavioes da Fiel samba school performs during a Carnival parade in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, February 11, 2024. (Photo by Andre Penner/AP Photo)

Vanessa Low of Team Australia makes a jump in the women's long-jump T63 final at Stade de France, during the 2024 Paralympics, on September 5, 2024. (Photo by Umit Bektas/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 pair of foxes seem happy to see each other in Zandvoort, the Netherlands in the last decade of September 2024. (Photo by Anna Stelloo/Solent News)

A Model styled by a participant waits to be judged by the jury during the contest “Day style” of the OMC Hairworld World Cup on May 4, 2014 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images)

American actress Vanessa Hudgens in the first decade of March 2023 takes a moment to honor the “magical women of the world”. (Photo by vanessahudgens/Instagram)

Hailey Bieber attends Alexander Wang & Bvlgari Celebrate A.W. BVLGARI'S 712 Fifth Avenue on September 07, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images)