Flamingos preparing to take flight are reflected on Lake Tuz, which hosts thousands of flamingos every year, in Ankara, Turkiye, on June 24, 2025. This year, the lake has seen a decline in flamingo numbers due to drought, prompting the birds to shift their migration route to other wetlands across Turkiye. (Photo by Harun Ozalp/Anadolu via Getty Images)

British-Irish model Stella Maxwell poses backstage prior to the Elie Saab Womenswear Spring/Summer 2026 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 04, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

People dressed in Hanfu robes take a boat parade during the Xitang Hanfu Culture Week in the ancient town of Xitang on November 1, 2025 in Jiaixng, Zhejiang Province of China. (Photo by Wang Gang/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

Canadian singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez performs during the Corona Capital music festival in Mexico City, Saturday, November 16, 2024. (Photo by Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo)

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.

Fashionistas pose for photographs in front of a homeless man outside Moynihan Station following a showing of the Rag & Bone Spring/Summer 2013 collection during New York Fashion Week in this September 7, 2012 file photo. (Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

A Tibetan Buddhist nun spins a prayer wheel in sub zero temperatures at a Buddhist laymen lodge where thousands of people gather for daily chanting session during the Utmost Bliss Dharma Assembly, the last of the four Dharma assemblies at Larung Wuming Buddhist Institute in remote Sertar county, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, China November 1, 2015. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

An Israeli boy looks through the sight of a weapon during a display of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) equipment and abilities at the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, April 23, 2015, during celebrations for Israel's Independence Day, marking the 67th anniversary of the creation of the state. (Photo by Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)