Members of Uganda Soft Ground Wrestling perform for attendees during the third day of Nyege Nyege Festival in Jinja, on November 16, 2024. The four-day popular Nyege Nyege Festival in Jinja, Uganda, gathers over 10,000 revelers and artists from across Africa for a celebration of music and culture, though it has faced criticism from some religious leaders who view it as morally controversial. (Photo by Badru Katumba/AFP Photo)

A golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopitheque de Roxelane) looks through its enclosure after quarantine during its presentation at the Beauval Zoopark in Saint-Aignan Central France, on May 7, 2025. ZooParc de Beauval (Loir-et-Cher) welcomed three golden snub-nosed monkeys on April 3, 2025, an endangered species from China, as part of a conservation program, becoming the first zoo outside Asia to house these long-haired, red-furred primates with bluish faces. (Photo by Guillaume Souvant/AFP Photo)

This handout photo taken on September 26, 2025 and released on September 27 by the Philippine Coast Guard shows coast guard personnel (background) evacuating a person at the height of Severe Tropical Storm Bualoi in San Agustin town, Romblon province. The Philippines evacuated hundreds of thousands of people and confirmed at least three deaths on Friday as it faced yet another tropical storm, days after it was battered by deadly Super Typhoon Ragasa. (Photo by Handout/Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)/AFP 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.

This cable ropeway suspended between cliffs is the only access to Yushan village in Hubei Province, Chin, which has a population of just over 200 people. The ropeway was built in 1997; before that villagers faced a walk of several days to get to the next nearest village. The ropeway, which is powered by a diesel engine, is 1,000 metres long and 400 metres above the valley floor.

A woman covers her face as men throw colored powder at her during “Lathmar Holi” at the village of Barsana in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh March 9, 2014. (Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)

Andy Swan “Zippy the Clown” from Sacramento, California, drives his “elelphant” car during a break at the 2011 Clowns of America International Convention on April 15, 2011 in Anaheim, California. Several hundred clowns, from all over the United States and from as far as Puerto Rico and Germany, are attending the convention to compete in skits and hone their skills in the art of balloon-making and face-painting. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)