Aerial view of a clear and turbid landscape at the intersection of the Sanjiang Estuary during the flood season on July 4, 2023 in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China. (Photo by Chen Guanyan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

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.

South Vietnamese-born designer Quasar drives the six-foot long square-shaped plastic car he built and which is scheduled to be a hit with the young driving set, in Paris, June 23, 1967. The car can be driven at speeds of up to 60 mph (Photo by Michel Laurent/AP Photo)

A dog plays amid a heavy snowfall in Madrid on January 9, 2021. Heavy snow fell across much of Spain, leaving huge areas blanketed in white as Storm Filomena brought wintry weather not seen in decades to the Iberian peninsula. (Photo by Benjamin Cremel/AFP Photo)

A worker carries a tray of boiled tofu in a traditional tofu factory in Depok, Indonesia, 21 January 2015. Tofu has been a common side dish for many Indonesian families. It is healthy, inexpensive and easy to find throughout the city. Tofu entrepreneurs in Indonesia are suffering due to the weakening of the rupiah against the US dollar and the rise in prices of imported soybeans in the international market, forcing tofu-makers to cut their production and lay off staff. (Photo by Adi Weda/EPA)

People are cooling off at a water park in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, on July 8, 2023. (Photo by Costfoto/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)