A general view shows smoke and volcanic ashes billowing from volcano Cotopaxi in Pedregal, Ecuador, late 07 October 2015. (Photo by Jose Jacome/EPA)

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 man wearing a face mask to help protect from the coronavirus carries a bag of groceries as he walks by a mural depicting an iconic financial market bull statue near the central business district, Monday, April 18, 2022, in Beijing. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

Russian artist Oleg Kulik installs the wax figure resembling to Russian tennis star Anna Kournikova at his new exhibition project in Moscow on October 19, 2002. Kulik plans soon to fill his museum with figures of strong and beautiful women like Bjork and Madonna in unexpected poses. (Photo by Alexander Natruskin/Reuters)

Hannah Maule-ffinch, “Wild Swimmers”, 2020, Hinksey Lake, Oxfordshire. Category: People. The series Wild Swimmers explores how humans are strongest when coming together in the face of adversity. In this photo, Emma and Emma have an amazing bond and friendship, built through their daily ritual of cold swimming in often bracing conditions. (Photo by Hannah Maule-ffinch/Earth Photo 2022)

A woman takes pictures as she stands on the top of a Greek Orthodox Church while the sun sets in the Aegean Sea, in Santorini, Greece's Cyclades island, on Wednesday, June 15, 2022. (Photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP Photo)

A woman visits the mirror installation “Mar de Espelhos” (Sea of Mirrors) ahead of its opening in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 13, 2023. (Photo by Ricardo Moraes/Reuters)

A worker restores the lead of one of the sculptures forming the Apollo's Chariot Fountain by Jean-Baptiste Tuby depicting Louis XIV, the god of the sun, driving his four-horse chariot full pelt, symbolising the ascent of the rising sun, at The Coubertin Foundry in Saint-Remy-les-Chevreuse, southwestern Paris, on July 10, 2023. This 18-month project will involve a wide range of skills and will enable the rebirth of this fountain at the Versailles' castle. (Photo by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP Photo)