American actress and singer Zendaya shows off her endless legs in miniskirt and heels for a sеxy photoshoot for ELLE's September 2023 issue. (Photo by Steven Klein/ELLE Magazine)

Internet personality Brock Davies and American TV personality Scheana Shay attend the 2024 People's Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on February 18, 2024 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by AFF-USA.com/The Mega Agency)

Blake Shelton looks “Worse for Wear” after a 5hr dinner with Girlfriend Gwen Stefani and fellow Country star Luke Bryan at “Craigs” Restaurant in West Hollywood, CA on April 15, 2019. (Photo by SPW/Splash News and Pictures)

Tate McRae performs at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards in Elmont, New York, U.S., September 7, 2025. (Photo by Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters)

A flight crew from China Airlines, wearing protective masks, stand in the international terminal after arriving on a flight from Taipei at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on February 28, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised the global coronavirus risk level to “very high”. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

“Don't Leave Any Food On Your Plate”. The giraffes at Nairobi's Giraffe Manor are totally at home with humans. They will eat out of your hand, or even off your plate. Photo location: Giraffe Manor, Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo and caption by Gavin Werbeloff/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Tsetse, six-year-old daughter of Dukha herder Erdenebat Chuluu, sits among her family's reindeer in a forest near the village of Tsagaannuur, Khovsgol aimag, Mongolia, April 21, 2018. Nyamaa is an ethnic Darkhad, herders of northern Mongolia who have historically inhabited the steppe that borders the Taiga forests. (Photo by Thomas Peter/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.