Hannah Prock, of Austria, prepares to start the luge women's singles run 1 at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Monday, February 7, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

People protest to demand the departure of the Transitional Presidential Council due to insecurity and gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on March 26, 2025. While authorities, including the National Palace and several ministries have all left downtown to escape the armed gang attacks in Port-au-Prince. Meanwhile, the people continue to fall victim to gang bullets. (Photo by Guerinault Louis/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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.

Shakira and Jennifer Lopez perform onstage during the Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show at Hard Rock Stadium on February 02, 2020 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

A person takes a photo of the skyline with the Shard building in the center, at sunset, from Greenwich Park in London, Tuesday, November 24, 2020. (Photo by Yui Mok/PA Wire via AP Photo)

Migrating gray cranes, on November 30, 2009 around the Hula Lakes in northern Israel. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Two women look at a mobile phone as they stand on Tiananmen Square during a sand storm in heavily polluted weather in Beijing on February 28, 2013. Beijing residents were urged to stay indoors as pollution levels soared before a sandstorm brought further misery to China's capital. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

A girl wears a cheongsam during a fashion show at a shopping mall in South Tangerang, Banten province, Indonesia on February 8, 2024. (Photo by Sulthony Hasanuddin/Antara Foto via Reuters)