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.

Pablo Picasso, famed 66-year-old Spanish artist who has lived most of his life in France, suns himself on a boat on the beach at Golfe Juan in Vallauris on the French Riviera on March 10, 1948. Entering a new period in his varied artistic career, Picasso has turned to painting pottery at the nearby town of Vallauris. (Photo by AP Photo)

English-born American model Emily Ratajkowski looks stunning as she models a new clothing collection for Express on October 28, 2016. The Blurred Lines beauty, 25, poses in a lace bralette for the US brand, as well as showing off her sporty side in athletics wear. (Photo by Express/Splash News and Pictures)

View at one of the sculptures by Swiss artist H.R. Giger during the opening of the Ars Electronica 2013 exhibition “HR Giger. The Art of Biomechanics” in Linz, Austria, 04 September 2013. (Photo by EPA/RUBRA)

Hindu women perform a ritual known as Aarti around a Shivling (a symbol of Lord Shiva) on the last day of Jaya Parvati Vrat festival in Ahmedabad, India, July 10, 2017. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

The founder of the UK’s only hobby horse club, Zoe Brown, watches on as members enjoy the activity on July 14, 2025. Brown began running competitions to help her own daughter, 11, feel less shame around her pastime. (Photo by South West News Service)

Drag queen Lior Israelov (L), who goes by the stage name Suzi Boum, and his transgender sister Arizona pose for a photo in a studio In Tel Aviv June 3, 2015. While Tel Aviv has become a world-class destination for gay tourism, the holy city of Jerusalem was the scene of an attack by an ultra-Orthodox Jew that killed an Israeli teenager at an annual Gay Pride parade on July 30. The assailant, who called the parade an abomination against God, has been charged with murder. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)

Women in Kimono holding an umbrella walk on a street at Ginza shopping district in Tokyo, Japan, March 31, 2016. (Photo by Yuya Shino/Reuters)