The “Strandbeest” sculpture created by Dutch artist Theo Jansen walks at Federation Square on February 1, 2012 in Melbourne, Australia. The 12 metre long, 4 metre high and 2 metre wide structure built of plastic tubes and bottles designed to walk using wind energy will be on display at Federation Square until February 26. (Photo by Scott Barbour/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.

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 man looks at a photograph by French photographer Robert Doisneau entitled “The Fate Line: Pablo Picasso at Vallauris, 1952” during the presentation of the photo-exhibition “Picasso, photographer's gaze”, on June 5, 2019 at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. (Photo by Lluis Gene/AFP Photo)

Mare Sorie, left, and her friend Tsehaynesh Golja, right, take a rest as they carry bundles of firewood from the forest around Entoto mountain near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Friday, July 17, 2020. (Photo by Mulugeta Ayene/AP Photo)

People watch as a young Palestinian performs an acrobatic jump on the beach, during soaring summer temperatures in Gaza City on June 14, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (Photo by Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP Photo)

Palestinian men perform fire breathing on the beach as an entertainment for children during the summer vacation in Gaza City on August 1, 2019. (Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP Photo)