A model parades an outfit by Australian label Micky In The Van at Melbourne Fashion Week in Melbourne on November 18, 2021. As Australian labels were paraded on the runway at Melbourne Fashion Week, protests took place outside by female warehouse workers claiming they are earning up to $10 less an hour than male counterparts. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

A 71-day-old male Kalimantan orangutan, a critically endangered species, born in the zoo but neglected by its 9-year-old mother Shakila, is held by an animal care taker at Bandung Zoological Gardens in Bandung, West Java on February 21, 2025. (Photo by Timur Matahari/AFP Photo)

A male green anole lizard flares his throat fan in a backyard in Cary, North Carolina on April 27, 2021. This pink section is actually a thin flap of skin that hangs down below the green anole's throat. Anoles are renowned for their displays in which they do pushups, bob their heads up and down, and unfurl their colorful dewlaps. The male anole uses it for two primary purposes: to protect his territory and attract a mate. (Photo by Bob Karp/ZUMA Press Wire/Alamy Live News)

(L-R) Actors Oscar Sinela, Luis Fernandez, Ursula Corbero, Amaia Salamanca, Maxi Iglesias and Alba Ribas attend “XP3D” premiere at the Callao cinema on December 27, 2011 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Carlos Alvarez/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.

Actors perform a scene in a film directed by Humam Husari in the rebel-held besieged town of Zamalka, in the Damascus suburbs, Syria September 19, 2016. (Photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)

American actress Sarah Hyland at arrivals for 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards – Part 2, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA January 19, 2020. (Photo by Monica Almeida/Reuters)

An Indian visitor sits on a bike with the wax statue of American actor Tom Cruise at the Madame Tussauds Delhi in New Delhi, India on June 6, 2018. (Photo by Money Sharma/AFP Photo)