An Afghan woman walks with a child in the old city of Herat province, Afghanistan on October 15, 2018. (Photo by Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)

A supporter of Iraqi populist leader Moqtada al-Sadr gashes his head with blade during a ceremony marking Ashura, the holiest day on the Shi'ite Muslim calendar, at Tahrir Square in Baghdad,,Iraq on August 9, 2022. (Photo by Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters)

A CRH train is seen passing through Nanjing South Railway Station, which is part of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway Line, on March 27, 2011 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province of China. The High-Speed railway line is 1,318 kilometres long, running between Beijing and Shanghai. The line will open on June 10, 2011. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)

Russian artist Maria Gazanova (L) works on her "The Alive Painting" art work during the Art Krasnoyarsk annual festival in Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia November 4, 2015. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Police are highly visible at the Notting Hill carnival with several arrests, stop and search and a “knife detection gate” in operation, August 27, 2018 in west London, England. 133 arrests were made at the carnival yesterday with 20 knives seized. (Photo by South West News Service/Action Press/Picturedesk)

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.

Ballerinas perform during an ice-cream factory promotional event at an observation floor of the Moscow International Business Centre, also known as “Moskva-City”, in Moscow, Russia October 25, 2018. (Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

A frosty sunset is seen through icicles in Peremilovo village, 65 km (40,6 miles) north of Moscow, Russia, Sunday, December 16, 2018. Temperatures in the Moscow region on Sunday dropped to –12 degree Celsius (10 Fahrenheit). (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)