A man talks on his mobile phone in the village of Devmali in the desert state of Rajasthan, India June 14, 2016. (Photo by Himanshu Sharma/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.

A woman feeds cats at Mar Elias Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, on August 28, 2024. (Photo by Ahmed Saad/Reuters)

A participant in the Crazy Races extreme sports game competes in the cross-country obstacle race in Ufa, Russia on September 21, 2015. (Photo by TASS/Barcroft Media)

The UK reality TV mum Binky Felted out and about in London, England on November 7, 2017. Binky looked amazing in a black blazer, (Photo by Flynet Pictures)

This artist's rendering illustrates the evaporation of HD 189733b's atmosphere in response to a powerful eruption from its host star. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope detected the escaping gases and NASA's Swift satellite caught the stellar flare. (Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center)

A close up of ornaments of centuries-old idols of Lord Buddha during the Pancha Daan, Five donation, festival in Bhaktapur, Nepal, 30 August 2016. Thousands of Buddhist pilgrims observe the main day of the Pancha Daan also known as a five summer gifts (rice, grain, salt, money and fruits) festival which is observes for world peace and human welfare. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)

English singer-songwriter Dua Lipa early November 2022 shares “miscellaneous” photos from Japan. (Photo by dualipa/Instagram)