Marco Antonio Eguchi of Brazil gets bucked off of Bottoms Up in the first round of the PBR Frontier Communications Iron Cowboy at AT& T Stadium on February 18, 2017 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

A man dressed as the Sesame Street character Big Bird sits on a bench waiting to take pictures with people walking through Central Park in New York U.S., November 14, 2016. (Photo by Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

In this image released on October 1, model Jazzelle Zanaughtti is seen onstage during Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 2 presented by Amazon Prime Video at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California; and broadcast on October 2, 2020. (Photo by Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Presented by Amazon Prime Video)

Alex Plunkett, left, and Sean Hart, both of Arlington, Va., join hundreds participating in the annual International Pillow Fight Day on April 5. Massive pillow fights broke out on the Mall in Washington and in cities around the world. (Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

Leicester City hostesses take pictures in front of a billboard as people gather to watch the team's English Premier League soccer match against Everton on a big screen, in Bangkok, Thailand, May 7, 2016. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

Israeli soldiers cry during a state memorial ceremony marking two years since the 2014 Gaza war “Operation Protective Edge” at Mount Herzl military cemetery in in Jerusalem, Israel, 26 July 2016. More than 2.000 people were killed in the conflicts between Israel and Palestine. (Photo by Abir Sultan/EPA)

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.

Traffic enforcer Ramiro Hinojas, 51, wears a Santa Claus costume while directing motorists through traffic at an intersection in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines on November 28, 2017. (Photo by Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)