Activists perform on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, in Rome, Tuesday, November 25, 2025 (Photo by Roberto Monaldo/LaPresse via AP Photo)

Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team cool down a sedated elephant at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, October 14, 2024. (Photo by Brian Inganga/AP Photo)

A young man sits in The Colored Forrest, in the village of Poienari, southern Romania, a project by local artists, meant to raise awareness to the large scale deforestation due to excessive logging, Saturday, October 12, 2024. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

Participants in historical costumes attend the celebrations to mark the 114th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, in Mexico City, Mexico on November 20, 2024. (Photo by Raquel Cunha/Reuters)

Mug shot of De Gracy (sic) and Edward Dalton. Details unknown. Central Police Station, Sydney, around 1920. (Photo by NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive, Justice & Police Museum, Histiric Houses Trust of NSW)

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.

Participants of the the goth festival “Wave Gothic Festival” walk in fancy costumes along the festival area in Leipzig, central Germany, Saturday, May 23, 2015. About 20,000 members of the scene are expected to attend one of the world's largest gothic and “dark” culture festivals until May 25, 2015. (Photo by Jens Meyer/AP Photo)

People make their way on an algae-covered beach in Qingdao, Shandong province, China, July 19, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)