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.

The winners of The London’s Natural History Museum's prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year for 2013 have finally been unveiled. Selected from almost 43,000 entries from 96 countries, the winners offer a glimpse of the stunning array of natural beauty on our planet. Photo: Canada: “Lucky pounce”. “Anticipating the pounce – that was the hardest part”, says Connor, who had come to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA, in search of wildlife as much as the spectacular landscape. He had found this fox, his first ever, on his last day in the park. It was so absorbed in hunting that Connor had plenty of time to get out of the car and settle behind a rock. It quartered the grassland, back and forth, and then started staring intently at a patch of ground, giving Connor just enough warning of the action to come. When it sprung up, Connor got his shot. And when it landed, the fox got his mouse. (Photo by Connor Stefanison/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013)

“A meteor streaked across the sky above Russia's Ural Mountains on Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and injuring more than 500 people (20 had been hospitalized in serious condition), many of them hurt by broken glass. “There was panic. People had no idea what was happening. Everyone was going around to people's houses to check if they were OK”, said Sergey Hametov, a resident of Chelyabinsk, about 1500 kilometres (930 miles) east of Moscow, the biggest city in the affected region”. (Photo by Alexey Bulaew/RIA Nowosti)

In this photo taken on March 11, 2019 an Afghan street vendor selling oranges waits for customers on a rainy day on the roadside in Jalalabad. (Photo by Noorullah Shirzada/AFP Photo)

In this November 30, 2017 photo, Douglas scoops up mud from the bottom of the polluted Guaire River, in search of gold and anything valuable he can sell, in Caracas, Venezuela. Some stretches of the river smell of sewer while others emit a toxic odor of fuel, a stench that stays in ones nose for hours after leaving the water. (Photo by Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

Street vendosr prepare grilled pigs to sell for the Chinese New Year celebrations at a market in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 11 February 2021. Chinese people around the world celebrate the Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, which marks the year of the Ox. (Photo by Kith Serey/EPA/EFE)

Revellers enjoy the Notting Hill Carnival for the first time in three years in London, United Kingdom on August 28, 2022. (Photo by Simon Jones/The Sun)

A trained monkey rides a toy cycle during a Topeng Monyet (Monkey Mask) show at a densely populated area in Depok on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia, on May 18, 2024. (Photo by Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters)