Young dancers perform in a ballet adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland” during the Baghdad Ballet Academy's annual gala at Rasheed Theatre in Baghdad on August 29, 2025. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)

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.

Team Alberta skip Kevin Koe makes a shot during the 10th draw against team British Columbia at the Brier curling tournament in Brandon, Manitoba, Tuesday, March, 5, 2019. (Photo by Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP Photo)

Lightning strikes the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) in downtown on June 12, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“Yunarmiya” (Young Army) All-Russia National Military Patriotic Social Movement Association members compete during the 7th military-patriotic game “Yunarmiya, forward!” dedicated to Victory Day at the Museum-reserve “Gorki Leninskie” in Gorki Leninskie, Russia, 29 April 2025. A total of 160 teams of Yunarmiya and military-patriotic detachments attended the games, each team consisting of seven people aged between 12 and 17 years old. The games are a continuation of the Soviet military-sports competitions for children and teenagers, “Zarnitsa” (since 1967) and “Orlyonok (Eaglet)” (since 1972). (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA/EFE)

A Chinese woman stands along a road with her dog at a residential community in Beijing on March 11, 2013. Regulations in Beijing and other major Chinese cities ban residents from keeping large dogs in downtown areas, but rules are sometimes flouted. (Photo by Wang Zhao/AFP Photo)

P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).

Children run past used caskets at a crematorium facility in Manila on April 29, 2020. Most of the Philippines is under quarantine to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has infected over 7,000 people and killed at least 500 in the country. (Photo by Maria Tan/AFP Photo)

Police officers standby while a forest fire burns the hills of Valparaiso city, northwest of Santiago, March 13, 2015. Several hectares of land has been burned due to forest fires near Valparaiso city, with no report of deaths or injuries, local authorities said. (Photo by Lucas Galvez/Reuters)