Aerial view of workers repairing fishing nets in preparation for a new round of fishing season on July 27, 2025 in Wenling, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province of China. (Photo by Zhu Haiwei/Zhejiang Daily Press Group/VCG via Getty Images)

Actors Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner are seen getting into character while on set filming scenes for their new movie “One Night Only” tonight in New York City on November 12, 2025. (Photo by Jose Perez/Backgrid USA)

A diver dressed in a Santa Claus costume swims with a penguin at Sunshine Aquarium during preparations for the upcoming Christmas special event in Tokyo on December 1, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images)

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.

Three-year-old orangutan from Sumatra, Berani, is pictured at the Pairi Daiza wildlife park, zoo and botanical garden in Brugelette, Belgium on August 2, 2019. (Photo by Yves Herman/Reuters)

Singer Halsey attends a basketball game between The Los Angeles Lakers Vs the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Ca. on January 13, 2020. (Photo by London Entertainment/Splash News and Pictures)

Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg, Isabelle Axelsson and German Luisa Neubauer take part in a climate strike protest during the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland on January 24, 2020. (Photo by Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

The Greyfriars Bobby statue is pictured wearing a mask as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Britain, March 23, 2020. (Photo by Russell Cheyne/Reuters)