Aerial view of people circling around bonfires to celebrate the Torch Festival on Axilixi Prairie on July 20, 2024 in Bijie, Guizhou Province of China. (Photo by Luo Dafu/VCG via Getty Images)

A woman rests on a pile of plush toys at IKEA store in the shopping district of Causeway Bay in Hong Kong on November 3, 2024. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

Children playing on Walled City rooftop in Hong Kong, 1989. The lack of formal governance in the Walled City led to challenges, but it also fostered a unique system of informal social order. (Photo by Greg Girard/The Guardian)

Cristiano Ronaldo's fiancee Georgina Rodriguez in the second decade of August 2025 took social media by storm. (Photo by Instagram)

Argentine-Spanish singer Nathy Peluso brings her Club Grasa set to life at the Boiler Room x PATRÓN Tequila debut event in Ibiza, Spain on August 14th, 2025. (Photo by Boiler Room)

American model, golf instructor, former professional golfer and social media personality Paige Spiranac drove fans wild by dressing up as Jessica Rabbit for Halloween on October 30, 2025. (Photoby X @PaigeSpiranac)

Netherlands' Joosje Burg, left, reacts after Argentina's Agustina Gorzelany's stick catches her on the face during the women's semifinal field hockey match between Argentina and Netherlands at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, August 7, 2024, in Colombes, France. (Photo by Aijaz Rahi/AP 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.