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.

American singer-songwriter Grace VanderWaal at the PatBo show on September 15, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Bre Johnson/BFA.com)

Bigfoot Fastrax crushes cars during the monster truck rally at Anaheim Stadium in 1989 in Anaheim, California. Photo by: Tim Defrisco/Getty Images

A giant panda cub falls from the stage while 23 giant pandas born in 2016 seen on a display at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China, September 29, 2016. (Photo by Rex Features)

Cosplayers take a break from the convention to check their phones and get coffee during “Anime Boston 2024” at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 30, 2024. The convention is organized by the New England Anime Society and celebrates all things Japanese animation, comics and popular culture. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso/AFP Photo)

“Patricia Piccinini (born in 1965 in Freetown, Sierra Leone) is an Australian artist and hyperrealist sculptor. Her art work came to prominence in Australia in the late 1990s. Her major artworks often reflect her interests in issues such as bioethics, biotechnologies and the environment”. – Wikipedia

Billions of newly hatched locusts are spreading throughout Israel's South. The young locusts identified in the Negev Desert area are the offspring of locust swarms that entered Israel from Egypt in March. (Photo by Eliahu Hershkovitz/Haaretz)

Stephen Webster is a world renowned jewelry designer, who opened his first store in London in 1994, and in just 14 years had 20 international boutiques. This designer is most famous for his steam punk, rock and roll, and gothic styles of fine jewelry. His latest collection is named “The Seven Deadly Sins”, in which he has created seven cocktail rings, each of which depicts one of the seven vices. Each of the deadly sins is instantly recognizable in the shape and form of the rings, with Lust being the most beautiful ring of this set (in our opinion). Despite their beauty, few people would be daring enough to wear one of such rings. Who would want to share their sins with the world? Who would be arrogant enough?