American singer-songwriter Camila Cabello performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, on June 29, 2024. (Photo by Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

Models wear creations as part of the Maccapani men's and women's Spring Summer 2024 collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Friday, June 16, 2023. (Photo by Antonio Calanni/AP Photo)

A passenger jeepney commutes through a flooded street in Manila on September 5, 2024, caused by heavy rains due to the southwest monsoon influenced by Tropical Storm Yagi which hit the main island of Luzon on September 2. (Photo by Ted Aljibe/AFP Photo)

Jasmine Paolini hits a forehand during her first-round US Open match on Sunday, August 24, 2025 at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Ray Giubilo)

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.

A potential Banksy has appeared on Vale Street in Bristol, United Kingdom on December 10, 2020. The elusive artist is from the city and is known for creating new works without anyone catching him in the act. An image of an old woman sneezing without covering her mouth has been spotted on a wall in the Totterdown area – a possible nod to the current health crisis. Crowds are already gathering at the bottom of Vale Street – one of Britain's steepest roads – to take pictures and discuss. (Photo by South West News Service/Action Press)

In this December 8, 2020 file photo, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro playfully sprays a journalist with disinfectant as he exits a press conference at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, amid the new coronavirus pandemic. Attorneys for the cash-strapped government blame the impact of U.S. sanctions for its inability to make an initial $18 million down payment to the United Nations for doses of the U.N.-supplied vaccines, whose deadline has already passed. (Photo by Matias Delacroix/AP Photo/File)

New Market traders rescue an injured shopkeeper who got hurt during a clash with students from Dhaka college in Dhaka on April 19, 2022. (Photo by Munir Uz Zaman/AFP Photo)