A woman carries a heavy load on her head while walking along the narrow Kilo ZeroKilo 30 road near Bentiu in Unity State, South Sudan, on November 6, 2025. The eroded and flood-affected road compels residents to travel long distances on foot to access supplies in Bentiu and Rubkona. (Photo by Rian Cope/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.

A machine works on a Rio 2016 Olympic medal at the Casa da Moeda do Brasil (Brazilian Mint) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 28, 2016. The Casa da Moeda do Brasil is the Brazilian mint, owned by the Brazilian government and administratively subordinated to the Ministry of Finances. It was established in 1694. (Photo by Sergio Moraes/Reuters)

A pistol is lies near the body of a drug suspect who was killed with two others in an alleged “buy-bust” operation before dawn on Friday, September 30, 2016, in Caloocan city, north of Manila, Philippines, in the continuing “War on Drugs” campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte said he would be “happy to slaughter” 3 million addicts. (Photo by Bullit Marquez/AP Photo)

Maja, a 40-year-old elephant, extends her trunk into a bakery as a customer buys a newspaper while Maja took a stroll through the neighborhood with her minders from a nearby circus on July 1, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A green frog sits on a moth orchid at a local agricultural research center in Hwaseong, about 40 kilometers south of Seoul, South Korea, 03 March 2022, two days ahead of “gyeongchip”. On the lunar calendar, gyeongchip is the day when frogs awake from hibernation. (Photo by Yonhap/EPA/EFE)

A couple wearing protective masks take a picture of a rose on Valentine's Day in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on February 14, 2022. (Photo by Hasnoor Hussain/Reuters)

Participants compete in a wife-carrying championship in Tapiobicske, Hungary, August 7, 2021. Some 40 Hungarian husbands, with their wives on their backs, clambered over rough terrain on Saturday in the nation's second wife-carrying contest. (Photo by Marton Monus/Reuters)