Mexico City resident Romina Montoya takes a playful selfie wearing a protective face mask over her eyes and nose, in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo state, Mexico, Wednesday, January 6, 2021. Concern is spreading that the critical winter holiday tourism success could be fleeting because it came as COVID-19 infections in both Mexico and the United States were reaching new heights. (Photo by Emilio Espejel/AP Photo)

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team rider Brad Binder of South Africa speeds through a corner during a MotoGP practice session at the Australian MotoGP on Philip Island on October 18, 2024. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

Revellers celebrate and throw tomatoes at each other as they participate in the annual Tomatina festival on August 30, 2023 in Bunol, Spain. Spain's tomato throwing party in the streets of Bunol, Valencia brings together almost 20,000 people, with some 150,000 kilos of tomatoes thrown each year, this year with a backdrop of high food prices affected by Spain's historic drought. (Photo by Zowy Voeten/Getty Images)

A figurine depicting the bloody face of Donald Trump is seen in San Gregorio Armeno (the famous Neapolitan street of nativity scenes) following his attempted assassination in July 13 Pennsylvania rally, in Naples, Italy on July 16, 2024. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu 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.

Young man making the O.K. sign. (Photo by George Marks/Retrofile/Getty Images). Circa 1950s

Chinese tourists watch storm clouds moving along the coast towards the city of Sydney, Australia, November 6, 2015. Powerful storms swept across the city on Friday, with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology issuing a warning for severe thunderstorms with large hailstones, heavy rainfall and damaging winds, local media reported. (Photo by David Gray/Reuters)

In this February 19, 2017 photo, a statue of the Death Saint stands inside Mercy Church as Juan Carlos Avila Mercado gives a service, on the edge of Mexico City's Tepito neighborhood. “She chooses them and has always been with us”, said Avila, who says he is a Catholic priest, but who is not listed among the archdiocese's priests. “We are born and we die with death”. (Photo by Marco Ugarte/AP Photo)