Participants jump over a bonfire as they celebrate the Pagan holiday of Ivan Kupala, a traditional holiday that has been observed in Ukraine since pre-Christian times, in Kyiv, on June 23, 2024, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Anatolii Stepanov/AFP Photo)

A child dressed as a New York Fire Department member watches the Veterans Day parade behind a New York Police Department officer on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City on November 11, 2025. (Photo by Kylie Cooper/Reuters)

Demonstrators run inside of subway after clashing with riot police during a protest to denounce the housing crisis and evictions, in Barcelona, Spain, on September 25, 2024. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

A surfer walks by as starfish cling to a pillar of UC San Diego's Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier in a negative tide during the King Tides which are the year's most extreme high and low tides on December 6, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Photo by Kevin Carter/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.

A Chelsea Pensioner poses as he views displays through a floral design of Britain's Queen Elizabeth at the Chelsea Flower Show in London, Britain, May 23, 2016. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)

American singer Bleta “Bebe” Rexha poses with fans at the iHeartRadio MuchMusic Video Awards (MMVAs) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 26, 2018. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Reuters)

Models present creations by Georgian designer Lasha Jokhadze during the Tbilisi Fashion Week in Tbilisi, Georgia, October 19, 2018. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)