Three-month old cheetah cubs make their public debut at the Smithsonian National Zoo on July 24, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by T.J. Kirkpatrick)

Doutzen Kroes and Candice Swanpoel arrive at the Mert Alas x Marcus Piggot book launch party at Public Hotelon September 7, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Pierre Suu/GC 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.

A girl wearing a butterfly headband poses for a picture near damaged buildings in the rebel held besieged city of Douma, in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta, Syria January 19, 2017. (Photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)

A clothing shop displays its merchandise in the rebel-controlled city of Idlib, Syria November 7, 2015. (Photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters)

A woman prepares to fly a kite, during an event celebrating spring at the Citadel in Amman, Jordan, April 15, 2016. (Photo by Muhammad Hamed/Reuters)