Family and celebrities arrive at Kylie Jenner's 21st birthday celebration at Craig's in West Hollywood, CA on August 9, 2018. Pictured: Kim Kardashian. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

A common gallinule runs across the water to escape a nearby alligator at Green Cay Nature Center in Boynton Beach, Florida on September 4, 2025. Unlike most waterbirds, gallinules have long toes that allow them to walk on floating vegetation. The species is known for its loud, cackling calls that often echo through wetlands. (Photo by Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Paris Jackson arrives at the Calvin Klein Collection fashion show during New York Fashion Week at New York Stock Exchange on February 13, 2018. (Photo by Ouzounova/Splash News and Pictures)

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.

Kyrgyz men on horseback compete during their traditional game of “Oodarysh” during the celebrations of the 90th anniversary formation of the Chui region in the village of Kuntu some 20 kms from Bishkek on May 27, 2016. (Photo by Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP Photo)

Kim Kardashian goes shopping for gummy bears in sheer Gucci bra on October 9, 2017. She paired the risqué outfit with a waist-fitted midi length pencil skirt and clear lucite wedges from Kanye West’s fashion line. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

Women sell bananas in the street, after traders in markets were prohibited from selling any non-food items in an attempt to halt the spread of the new coronavirus, in Kampala, Uganda Thursday, March 26, 2020. (Photo by Ronald Kabuubi/AP Photo)

Migrant children play with leaves during Christmas Eve at a shelter, as they travel with their parents as part of a caravan with humanitarian visas to transit throughout the country, in Monterrey, Mexico on December 24, 2021. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)