Devotees wear costumes made of banana leaves as they head to church to attend mass as part of a religious festival, in honor of St. John the Baptist, also known locally as the “mud people” festival, in Aliaga town, Nueva Ecija province, north of Manila, on June 24, 2017. Farmers coated in mud paraded in Philippine villages on June 24 to mark one of the Catholic nation's most colourful religious festivals. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP Photo)

Kindergartner Cameron McManus, 5, watches as a fellow student has his portrait made during “picture day” at Rogers International School on September 23, 2020 in Stamford, Connecticut. Students lined up outside to be photographed while socially distanced due to COVID-19 precautions. Most students at Stamford Public Schools are taking part in a hybrid education model, attending in-school classes every other day and distance learning the rest. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

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.

This huge male orangutan is having a right old laugh as he squints his eyes and shows his huge teeth. The orangutan, called Bimbo, was relaxing on a platform around 5m high in his enclosure when he broke out into a laugh. But his happy smile soon disappeared when another orangutan came over to see what was going on. Bimbo – the only male in the group of five apes at Leipzig Zoo, in Germany - appears to be laughing in much the same way as a human would. (Photo by Martina Radtke/Solent News)

Faruk, 17, a Rohingya refugee trader holds betel leaves which are on sale at a stall in Palong Khali refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, November 3, 2017. He left his village in Myanmar when the military opened fire towards the Rohingya. “I buy this betel leaf from Palong Khali market, in one bundle there are 160 pieces, I buy it for 80 taka and I sell it for 100 taka (1 Bangladeshi Taka = 0.012 US Dollar). Bangladeshi's and I sell for the same rate in the camp. Outside in the local market it is 80 taka per bundle. My problem is that I don't have money so I can't buy anything to eat, I can't buy fish to eat”, he said. (Photo by Hannah McKay/Reuters)

Green algae sits on a beach in Kuwait City, Kuwait, 28 February 2017. The formation of green algae is a normal phenomenon that occurs every year at the shores of Kuwait. (Photo by Raed Qutena/EPA)

Canada's Mandy Marchak (R) is taken down by France's Pauline Biscarat during the final match of the Hong Kong Sevens rugby women's invitational cup in Hong Kong March 28, 2014. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Typhoon Bopha moves toward the Philippines, observed from the ISS, on December 2, 2012. (Photo by AP Photo/NASA via The Atlantic)