Anna Malova, Miss Russia 1998, poses on a pool table at The Campbell Apartment restaurant in Grand Central Station on November 18, 1999. She makes her motion picture debut in the movie “Above Ground”. (Photo by Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, visible above Old Gardur Lighthouse on the northern point of the Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland on Sunday, November 24, 2024. The lighthouse dates to 1897, and was one of the first built in Iceland. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)

Carlos Melendez prepares to feed his pet squirrel “Colita” in downtown San Salvador January 29, 2015. (Photo by Jose Cabezas/Reuters)

Players perform during a game at the first Bubble Soccer tournament in Hitzkirch, near Lucerne, Switzerland, June 27, 2015. Bubble Soccer, also known as Zorb Soccer, is becoming increasingly popular around the world. The game is a recreation of playing soccer whilst encased in an inflated zorb which covers the players upper-body and head. (Photo by Urs Flueeler/EPA)

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.

Personal trainer, Denise Austin, and Katie Austin arrive at the ESPY Awards at the Microsoft Theater on Wednesday, July 13, 2016, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Photo)

A member of the Air Force's Wings of Blue Parachute Demonstration Team salutes as he jumps out of an aircraft, during the opening ceremony of Aviation Nation 2017 Nellis Air and Space Expo at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., November 10, 2017. (Photo by Senior Airman Kevin Tanenbaum/Reuters/U.S. Air Force)

The mother (2nd R) of missing firefighter Xue Ning is helped by other family members as she cries outside the venue of a news conference after trying to demand for more information from government officials, following the explosions on Wednesday night at Binhai new district in Tianjin, China, August 15, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)