Visitors attend the balloon festival on the Eid al-Fitr holiday at Ronggolawe Stadion on April 23, 2023, in Wonosobo, Central Java, Indonesia. Javanese people fly giant hot air balloons during Eid, which has long been a tradition of the Wonosobo regency. (Photo by Garry Lotulung/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Charli XCX performs on day three of the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park on July 21, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

A young child dressed as the Hindu deity Shiva looks at a cow while waiting for alms from pilgrims in Pushkar in the western Indian state of Rajasthan on October 24, 2019. (Photo by Himanshu Sharma/AFP Photo)

Revellers help a man crowdsurf as they watch The Slaves perform on The Other Stage at the Glastonbury Festival of Music and Performing Arts on Worthy Farm near the village of Pilton in Somerset, South West England, on June 30, 2019. (Photo by Oli Scarff/AFP Photo)

Jasmine Paolini hits a forehand during her first-round US Open match on Sunday, August 24, 2025 at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Ray Giubilo)

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.

In this May 31, 2016 photo, pieces of watermelon litter the trash area of the Coche public market in Caracas, Venezuela. Staples such as corn flour and cooking oil are subsidized, costing pennies at the strongest of two official exchange rates. But fruit and vegetables have become an unaffordable luxury for many Venezuelan families. (Photo by Fernando Llano/AP Photo)

An Indian man feeds peanuts to monkeys along a busy street in Ahmedabad on July 31, 2016. Feeding animals is sacred in Hindu society. (Photo by Sam Panthaky/AFP Photo)