A model presents a creation by French designer Barbara Bui as part of her Spring/Summer 2016 women's ready-to-wear collection during Fashion Week in Paris, France, October 1, 2015. (Photo by Charles Platiau/Reuters)

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.

Celebrities attend The National Reality TV Awards 2016 at the Porchester Hall in London, United Kingdom on September 29, 2016. (Photo by FameFlynet UK)

Dayane Mello attends the photocall for the television miniseries “The Young Pope” at the 73rd Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, September 3, 2016. (Photo by Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters)

A woman takes part in a “Brave Run” competition in Minsk October 4, 2015. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

British singer Cheryl Fernandez-Versini aka Cheryl Cole arrives for the screening of “Ma Loute” (Slack Bay) during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival, in Cannes, France, 13 May 2016. (Photo by Sebastien Nogier/EPA)

People wear face masks while participating in the annual Memorial Day Parade on May 25, 2020 in the Staten Island borough of New York City. Dozens of cars and nearly 100 members of the patriotic motorcycle group Rolling Thunder joined the event. This year’s parade was diminished in size and in person-to-person contact due to the coronavirus outbreak. Across the country, events honoring the nation’s veterans have been cancelled or scaled back as America continues to experience high numbers of deaths and new cases of COVID-19. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Revellers participate in the annual gay pride parade in Amsterdam, Netherlands on August 4, 2018. (Photo by Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters)