For years, one of the most interesting things happening on Oscar night wasn’t on the red carpet at all. It was hidden away behind a curtain, inside a small, carefully built studio at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party. While cameras outside chased spectacle, inside, Mark Seliger was doing something much quieter—and arguably more revealing.
Since 2014, he’s been photographing actors, directors, and unexpected guests in a space designed from scratch each year. There was no big production, no overthinking—just people stepping in for a few minutes after one of the biggest nights of their lives. The result? Portraits that feel less like celebrity photos and more like glimpses of who these people actually are when everything else fades out.
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#1 Anthony Hopkins (Actor) 2022
Image source: Mark Seliger
Every year, the studio was reimagined from the ground up. In collaboration with a set designer, a completely new concept took shape—planned for months, then built in just two days. What started as an ordinary Beverly Hills parking lot was transformed almost overnight into an 18-by-30-foot cinematic space, with each year featuring its own distinct mood, textures, and visual language.
Stepping inside, and everything shifted. The noise of the night faded, replaced by something more controlled, more intentional. Within this carefully crafted environment, celebrities could drop the formality of the Oscars and step into something looser, more personal. There were no over-rehearsed poses, no press lines—just a brief moment to play, experiment, and exist outside the spotlight. And in that small window, something unexpectedly real began to surface.
#2 Jason Statham (Actor) & Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (Model & Actress) 2017
Image source: Mark Seliger
#3 Antonio Banderas (Actor) 2020
Image source: Mark Seliger
Over time, the project became more than a portrait session. It evolved into an unofficial archive of Hollywood, one built not on headlines or awards, but on subtle, human moments. Oscar winners still clutching their statues, rising stars caught mid-overwhelm, familiar faces suspended somewhere between exhaustion and adrenaline, all preserved in a way that feels both intimate and timeless.
We’ve put together 50 portraits from across a decade of this project, moments where Hollywood, even for a second, let the performance slip and something more real came through. These aren’t the images shaped by red carpet expectations or public personas, but glimpses in between—quieter, less guarded, and far more revealing. Taken together, they form a rare kind of record, not just of who was there, but of the fleeting, in-between moments that usually go unseen.
#4 Billie Eilish (Singer) 2020
Image source: Mark Seliger
#5 Taika Waititi (Director/Actor) 2020
Image source: Mark Seliger
#6 Steve Martin (Actor & Comedian) 2015
Image source: Mark Seliger
#7 Jake Gyllenhaal (Actor) 2022
Image source: Mark Seliger
#8 Rita Ora (Singer) 2019
Image source: Mark Seliger
#9 Catherine O’hara (Actress) 2022
Image source: Mark Seliger
#10 Diane Von Fürstenberg (Designer) 2015
Image source: Mark Seliger
#11 Andrew Garfield (Actor) 2022
Image source: Mark Seliger
#12 Zoë Kravitz (Actress) 2018
Image source: Mark Seliger
#13 Neil Patrick Harris (Actor/Host) 2014
Image source: Mark Seliger
#14 James Corden (Host/Actor) 2017
Image source: Mark Seliger
#15 Emma Stone (Actress) 2017
Image source: Mark Seliger
#16 Olivia Wilde (Actress & Director) 2020
Image source: Mark Seliger
#17 Emma Watson (Actress) 2018
Image source: Mark Seliger
#18 Mahershala Ali (Actor) 2017
Image source: Mark Seliger
#19 Michael Keaton (Actor) 2015
Image source: Mark Seliger
#20 Bong Joon-Ho (Director) 2020
Image source: Mark Seliger
#21 Ethan Hawke (Actor) 2015
Image source: Mark Seliger
#22 Glenn Close (Actress) 2019
Image source: Mark Seliger
#23 Julia Garner (Actress) 2023
Image source: Mark Seliger
#24 Sylvester Stallone (Actor) 2016
Image source: Mark Seliger
#25 Katy Perry (Singer) 2017
Image source: Mark Seliger
#26 Paris Jackson (Model & Actress) 2020
Image source: Mark Seliger
#27 Sia (Singer) 2015
Image source: Mark Seliger
#28 Troy Kotsur (Actor) 2022
Image source: Mark Seliger
#29 Miles Teller (Actor) 2017
Image source: Mark Seliger
#30 Pedro Almodóvar (Director) 2020
Image source: Mark Seliger
#31 Kate Hudson (Actress) 2023
Image source: Mark Seliger
#32 Radhika Jones (Editor-In-Chief Of Vanity Fair) 2023
Image source: Mark Seliger
#33 Lupita Nyong’o (Actress) 2014
Image source: Mark Seliger
#34 Rachel Mcadams (Actress) 2016
Image source: Mark Seliger
#35 Chadwick Boseman (Actor) 2018
Image source: Mark Seliger
#36 Serena Williams (Tennis Player) 2015
Image source: Mark Seliger
#37 Samuel L. Jackson (Actor) 2014
Image source: Mark Seliger
#38 Benedict Cumberbatch (Actor) 2014
Image source: Mark Seliger
#39 Selena Gomez (Singer/Actress) 2016
Image source: Mark Seliger
#40 Ariana Debose (Actress) 2022
Image source: Mark Seliger
#41 Spike Lee (Director) 2019
Image source: Mark Seliger
#42 Amy Schumer (Comedian/Actress) 2014
Image source: Mark Seliger
#43 Angela Bassett (Actress) 2023
Image source: Mark Seliger
#44 John Travolta (Actor) & Kelly Preston (Actress) 2014
Image source: Mark Seliger
#45 Chris Rock (Comedian) 2016
Image source: Mark Seliger
#46 Janelle Monáe (Singer & Actress) 2017
Image source: Mark Seliger
#47 Emilia Clarke (Actress) 2019
Image source: Mark Seliger
#48 Zoe Saldana (Actress) & Marco Perego (Artist) 2015
Image source: Mark Seliger
#49 Felicity Jones (Actress) 2015
Image source: Mark Seliger
#50 Anjelica Huston (Actress) 2017
Image source: Mark Seliger
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