An Iraqi soldier stands guard as a pipeline burns in the background after an explosion 30 kilometers (20 miles) northeast of Tikrit, Iraq, Monday, February 11, 2008. (Photo by Bassem Daham/AP Photo)

Members of the Kaisokah Moko Jumbies perform with fire on the waterfront near their San Fernando, Trinidad base February 10, 2015. (Photo by Andrea De Silva/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.

“Sangoma” initiate Dipuo Banda (C) is led out of her teachers shack while she remains in a trance like state prior to dancing during her 3 day initiation ceremony with her teacher, family, friends and students in the Alexandra Township in Johannesburg, South Africa, 14 May 2021. Sangomas, the Zulu term for Medicine Women or traditional healers, fulfill different social and political roles in the community, including divination, physical healing, emotional and spiritual illnesses, directing birth or death rituals and finding lost cattle. (Photo by Kim Ludbrook/EPA/EFE)

A Palestinian girl watches from the balcony of her house as Israeli soldiers conduct a security operation in the village of Aqraba, east of Nablus in the occupied-West Bank, on May 3, 2021. Suspected Palestinian gunmen carried out a drive-by shooting at a nearby junction the previous, leaving three Israeli civilians wounded, one of them in critical condition, with a manhunt underway. (Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP Photo)

A rickshaw puller waits for customers during heavy rainfall in Kathmandu, Nepal, 28 May 2021. As Government stricken nationwide lockdown from 28 May 2021 to control coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection and deaths, low-income families are struggling to cater for their daily lives. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA/EFE)