A man smashes an apple with a sword placed on the head of a man wearing a knave costume during the Easter knight event on April 21, 2014 in Berlin. The easter knight event delivers an insight into medieval lifestyle. (Photo by Rainer Jensen/AFP Photo/DPA)

Japanese sеx doll exhibition attracts hundreds of mannequin-fetishists to celebrate 40 years of the X-rated love bots in Tokyo, Japan on May 19, 2017. These silicon seductresses were the star of an extraordinary exhibition in Japan showcasing sеx dolls that cost as little as a second hand car. Japanese sеx doll maker Orient Industry (originally Orient made dolls for disabled people) were laying bare their dazzling bevvy of beauties in an extravaganza to mark its 40th anniversary this week. Here: Orient industry prides itself on its detail with two looking extremely real as they sit flirtatiously on a couch. (Photo by Masatoshi Okauchi/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

American actress Aubrey Plaza (L) dances with American actress and model Madelyn Cline while sipping Avaline sparkling at Stella McCartney and Baz Luhrmann's Met Gala after party with Casamigos Tequila in Manhattan, New York on May 1, 2023. (Photo by Matteo Prandoni/BFA.com)

American actress and model Bella Thorne at the PATRON EL ALTO VIP Lounge at NYLON House in the Desert, ,Palm Springs, California on April 14, 2023. (Photo by Chelsea Lauren/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Jamie Lee Curtis on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 took a trip back to the eighties on The Tonight Show to recreate her iconic aerobics movie scene from the film Perfect, featuring host Jimmy Fallon as John Travolta’s character. (Photo by Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images)

An actress dressed as Wonder Woman walks between visitors during the season inauguration of the Madrid Warner amusement park in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, near Madrid, Spain, March 18, 2016. (Photo by Andrea Comas/Reuters)

A resident of the Goodwin House senior living community, looks on as the DC area motown band “The Tribe” plays a social distance concert in their parking lot in Arlington, Virginia, during the coronavirus pandemic on April 14, 2020. (Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP Photo)

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.