Schoolchildren play music to entertain and inspire people on their way home from work Tuesday, March 29, 2016 in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea has called a 70-day loyalty drive areas of a major congress of the ruling party scheduled for early May and everyone from students to coal miners have been mobilized nationwide to demonstrate their devotion to the leadership. (Photo by Eric Talmadge/AP Photo)

Subway passengers walk past bronze sculptures representing the Soviet people at the Ploshchad Revolyutsii metro station in Moscow, on November 14, 2012. The station was opened in 1938. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP Photo)

English reality television personality and country music singer Megan Elizabeth McKenna is seen at Soho House on May 24, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

Revellers enjoy during New Year celebrations in Manchester, England on January 1, 2019. (Photo by Mercury Press)

Double amputee dog Cora Rose balances on her hind legs to watch Zach Skow repairing her cart on a street in Washington, U.S., May 15, 2019. Cora Rose serves in a prisoner therapy program founded by Skow called “Pawsitive Change” in California. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

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.

Linda Cerruti, Lucrezia Ruggiero, Marta Iacoacci, Isotta Sportelli, Sofia Mastroianni, Giulia Vernice, Enrica Piccoli and Francesca Zunino of Team Italy compete in the Mixed Team Technical Final on day five of the Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships at Aspire Dome on February 06, 2024 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)