School cheerleaders wearing protective masks pose for a photo as fellow students arrive for classes on the first day of school in Miami-Dade County at Barbara Goleman Senior High School, in Miami, Florida, August 23, 2021. (Photo by Marco Bello/Reuters)

Revellers shield themselves as they celebrate in the rain near Stonehenge stone circle, despite official Summer Solstice celebrations being cancelled due to the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), near Amesbury, Britain, June 21, 2020. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)

A view of the Milky Way over the windmills at the wasteland of La Lora, in Rocamundo, region of Cantabria, northern Spain, 29 May 2022. (Photo by Pedro Puente Hoyos/EPA/EFE)

A Delhi Police officer stretches during a rehearsal for the upcoming Republic Day parade on a foggy winter morning in New Delhi, India on January 4, 2024. (Photo by Sahiba Chawdhary/Reuters)

Florida delegates dance on Day 2 of the RNC in Milwaukee on July 16, 2024. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

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.

UConn students from Storrs, Conn., Gary Tu, Danny Wang and Victor Zheng, fish at Shenipsit Lake in Tolland, Conn. during sunset on Tuesday, August 19, 2014. (Photo by Jim Michaud/AP Photo/Journal Inquirer)

A cosplayer poses for a photograph during the Comic Market 90 (Comiket) event in Tokyo Big Sight on August 12, 2016, Tokyo, Japan. Many manga and anime fans wearing cosplay lined up in the sun for the first day of Comiket. Comiket was established in 1975 and focuses on manga, anime, gaming and cosplay. Organizers expect more than 500,000 visitors to attend this year's summer event which runs for three days until August 14. (Photo by Aflo/Splash News)