Mohammed Al-Dahshan, who decorates himself and his horse with led lights, performs the Ramadan drumming on the north of the Egyptian capital Cairo on March 20, 2025. Al-Dahshan and his horse hit the road at sahur (Ramadan meal eaten at night) time, wandering the streets of Dekernes region every night during Ramadan and waking people up for sahur. (Photo by Mohamed Elshahed/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A water buffalo is pictured across from the Nahr Bin Omar oilfield in Iraq's southern province of Basra on July 18, 2022. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)

Residents (R to L) Luiza, Janubie, Leiticia and Lucas sit beneath an overpass near their houses in an impoverished area in the unpacified Complexo da Mare slum complex, one of the largest “favela” complexes in Rio, on March 18, 2014 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A hare runs on a small road as the sun rises in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, June 12, 2023. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

American actress and model Megan Fox looks lush in a green bikini for a forest photoshoot which sent social media wild in the second decade of July 2023. (Photo by Cibelle Levi)

(L-R) Singers Kelly Rowland, Beyonce and Michelle Williams perform during the Pepsi Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on February 3, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

A reveller takes part in the battle of “Enfarinats”, a flour fight in celebration of the Els Enfarinats festival on December 28, 2015 in Ibi, Spain. Citizens of Ibi annually celebrate the festival with a battle using flour, eggs and firecrackers. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/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.