A woman takes part in a “Brave Run” competition in Minsk October 4, 2015. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/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.

Wounded people walk after clashes with riot police in central Kiev February 18, 2014. Ukrainian riot police advanced on the heart of 12-week-old protests against President Viktor Yanukovich on Tuesday and security forces set a deadline to end disturbances after at least five protesters were reported killed in a day of clashes. (Photo by Vlad Sode/Reuters)

An election poster calling for the legalisation of marijuana and featuring internet meme “Grumpy Cat” hangs outside the Pirate Party's campaign headquarters in Berlin on August 16, 2013. The Pirates, who to everyone's surprise were elected into Berlin's regional parliament in September 2011, are trying to capitalise on their recent electoral gains in upcoming parliamentary elections, running on a platform of transparency in government. Germany goes to the polls on September 22, 2013. Placard reads: “Hurry up, my dope is everything”. (Photo by John Macdougall/AFP Photo)

A man with blood on his shirt is evacuated from Brussels Airport in Zaventem, Belgium, on Tuesday, March 22, 2016. (Photo by Dirk Waem/Belga/Zuma Press/TNS)

A Lebanese man carries an injured woman away from the site of a car bomb explosion in a Shiite area and stronghold of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah at the southern suburb of Beirut, Thursday January 2, 2014. A large explosion has rocked a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah group in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital. (Photo by Hussein Malla/AP Photo)