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.

An astonishing set of snaps of a thrill-seeker's sky-high catwalk show on the edge of some of the world's tallest buildings has turned her into a social media sensation. Daredevil Angelina Nikolau, 23, from Russia, has spent weeks travelling around China and Hong Kong posing for jaw-dropping skyscraper selfies hundreds of feet above the ground. Her vertigo inducing results – uploaded to Instagram – have made her an instant star on the internet. (Photo by Kirill Oreshkin/CEN)

A man from the Ogiek community harvests honey in Mount Elgon game reserve, where they have reached an agreement with the government allowing them to remain in their ancestral lands in western Kenya, April 26, 2016. (Photo by Katy Migiro/Reuters)

“Ary Borges and his family live in southern Brazil like most families the Borges' love animals and have an array of cats living in their home. The only difference between the cats owned by the Borges family and the cat that is cuddled up on your lap as you read this is the Borges' cats weigh over 700 pounds and could kill you just as soon as look at you. The Borges family shares their home with nine tigers, two lionesses, a chimp and a Chihuahua”. – Amanda Schiavo via Latin Times. Photo: The Borges' family pet dog, Little, is placed on the back of Tom, their tiger, for a photo to be taken, in Maringa, Brazil, Friday, September 27, 2013. (Photo by Renata Brito/AP Photo)

Ukraine's Ruslana performs her song Wild Dance ands wins the Eurovision Song Contest on May 15, 2004 at the Abdi Ipekci Stadium, in Istanbul, Turkey. The event – hosted by last year's winners Turkey – also celebrates the 30th Anniversary of ABBA's win. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Artist Pyotr Pavlensky sits on the wall enclosing the Serbsky State Scientific Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry after he cut off a part of his earlobe during his protest action titled “Segregation” in Moscow October 19, 2014. Pavlensky protested against the usage of forensic psychiatry for politically motivated purposes. He cut off his earlobe to demonstrate how authorities could “cut off” an unwanted individual from society by using psychiatric and medical diagnosis to forcefully send a person to a penitentiary hospital, according to Pavlensky. (Photo by Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)

An anti-Gaddafi fighter tests an anti-aircraft gun southwest of Sirte, Libya one of Muammar Gaddafi's last remaining strongholds, September 16, 2011. A timeline of images dating from 2010 from Sirte, Libya, the home town of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Libyan forces battling Islamic State in the city of Sirte say they have defeated the militant group after months of street to street fighting backed by U.S. air strikes. Islamic State took control of the city more than a year ago and set up its main base outside Syria and Iraq. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)