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.

In this March 18, 2015 photo, Andrea, better known as Loira, which is the Portuguese word for “blonde”, poses for a portrait in an open-air crack cocaine market, known as a “cracolandia” or crackland where users can buy crack, and smoke it in plain sight, day or night, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Andrea says she is married and has a home, but she keeps returning to crackland to feed her addiction. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)

Women lie in the sun in Domino Park as high temperatures hit the region in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., August 29, 2018. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Women stand on the “martyrs' bridge” spanning the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, February 24, 2023. (Photo by Jerome Delay/AP Photo)

A donkey carrying sacks of coal walks through the narrow tunnels of a coal mine, in Choa Saidan Shah in Punjab province April 29, 2014. Coal miners in Chao Saidan Shah use donkeys to transport coal from the depths of the mines to the surface. (Photo by Sara Farid/Reuters)

People wearing costumes attend the annual water-splashing festival to mark the New Year of the Dai minority in Jinghong, Yunnan province, April 13, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

UFC women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm and Miesha Tate face off during the UFC 196 weigh ins at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Friday, March 4, 2016. (Photo by L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Sun via AP Photo)

An Afghan burqa-clad woman with children ride a donkey in Kishim district of Badakhshan province on October 12, 2023. (Photo by Omer Abrar/AFP Photo)