Local men help a wounded woman after a mortar attack by the Ukrainian army of the center of Donetsk, Ukraine, 14 August 2014. Reports state that ten local people where wounded and one killed after the mortar attack. (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA)

A girl performs martial arts during a function to mark International Women's Day at a school in Hyderabad, India, on March 7, 2014. (Photo by Mahesh Kumar A./Associated Press)

A racegoer uses the camera on her phone to check her hair on the opening day of the Grand National Festival at Aintree Racecourse on April 3, 2014 in Aintree, England. The three days of racing attracts thousands of racegoers and fans from across the world. The meeting culminates with millions of pounds being wagered on the runners taking part in Europe's richest jump race, the Grand National. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

A Rajasthani folk dance artist performs while standing on two glasses during the “Dhora Ri Mahak” festival in Bhopal, India, 07 January 2015. The event is being organised by the “Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya” anthropology museum. (Photo by Sanjeev Gupta/EPA)

Skeletons are arranged in a bar scene as part of a competition to create Day of the Dead altars on pedestrian Regina Street in central Mexico City, Tuesday, November 1, 2016. The holiday honors the dead as friends and families gather in cemeteries to decorate their loved ones' graves and hold vigil through the night on Nov. 1 and 2. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP 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.

British Waters Wide Angle category runner-up. Grass snake swimming along a garden pond by Jack Perks (UK)in Nottinghamshire, UK. “I’m always on the lookout for unusual freshwater subjects and grass snakes are a species I’ve been after for years. I was told about a pond where the odd grass snake hangs around the lilly pads for frogs. I put my drysuit on and got into the water and could see one slithering along the surface. Slowly making my way towards it with my head only just poking above I got the spilt shot”. (Photo by Jack Perks/Underwater Photographer of the Year 2019)

Donald Ganslmeier, operator of the Motodrom, rides a motorbike inside the Motodrom during a press tour at Theresienwiese on the premises of the 182nd annual Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, September 17, 2015. (Photo by Matthias Balk/EPA)