“Hippo Chase”. As we approached the camp the Selinda Reserve of northern Botswana our boat passed by a hippo resting in the water. I turned around to look back at the boat's wake and saw the hippo charging after us! The hippo must've been tired from an all-nighter because he was angry. He rose way up out of the water three times trying to chase our boat! He was coming at us with such force that he created a wake of his own. Photo location: Selinda Reserve of northern Botswana. (Photo and caption by Curtis Simmons/National Geographic Photo Contest)

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.

South Sudanese wrestlers take part in a wrestling match for peace in Juba on April 19, 2016. The last wrestling match for peace was held in Juba the day before civil war broke out in December 2013. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)

A racegoer enjoy the atmosphere following 2016 Derby Day at Flemington Racecourse on October 29, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. Women attendees weren’t afraid to show off some skin as the warm summer weather arrived in Australia. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

Hannan Iskandar gets ready before she starts to drive her car in her neighborhood, in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia on June 24, 2018. Saudi Arabia ended its longstanding ban on women driving on June 24, 2018 – and the second the clock struck midnight, women across the country started their engines. (Photo by Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters)

Policemen look at a wax figure of Rowan Atkinson, dressed as his popular television character Mr. Bean, on display outside a wax figure museum in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, August 24, 2014. (Photo by Alex Lee/Reuters)

Tourists pose with pigeons in the flooded St. Mark's Square in Venice, on November 7, 2014. The high water, a combination of high tides and a strong Scirocco wind in the Adriatic Sea, stood at 110 centimeters early on November 7. The city has for years been wrestling with the problems posed by the threat of rising sea levels. (Photo by Olivier Morin/AFP Photo)

“The Net thrower”. The fisherman are conducting activities on Situgunung Lake. Photo location: Situgunung lake, Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia. (Photo and caption by Dody Kusuma/National Geographic Photo Contest)