The torrential rain has failed to dampen the spirits of this hyena as he bursts into a hysterical laugh in Kenya, on Oktober 24, 2013. (Photo by Mark Bridger/Solent News & Photo Agency)

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“Basunga”. Basunga (3 weeks-old newborn with albinism) is happily sleeping with his cousin. For now, he does not yet realize the difficulties he will face to integrate into the Congolese society as a PWA. The success of his integration will greatly depends of how he accepts himself and his skin condition a and how educated he will be. Photo location: Kinshasa, Congo RDC. (Photo and caption by Patricia Willocq/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.

Participants run through the streets of the Back Bay during the 16th annual Santa Speedo Run in Boston, Massachusetts, December 12, 2015. (Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters)

Tourists walk above a tea plantation in Enshi, Hubei province, December 27, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

People dressed in costumes have a break while marching during the Vijanera Festival, in the small village of Silio, northern Spain, Sunday, January 3, 2016. The Vijanera masquerade, of pre-Roman origin, is the first carnival of the year in Europe symbolizing the triumph of good over evil and involving the participation of crowds of residents wearing different masks, animal skins and brightly coloured clothing with its own complex function and symbolism and becoming the living example of the survival of archaic cults to nature. (Photo by Francisco Seco/AP Photo)

Burger King employee Rumi Sekine shows the Kuro Diamond burger, right, and the Kuro Pearl burger at its Shibuya restaurant in Tokyo Tuesday, September 16, 2014. The international hamburger chain in Japan will launch the two new “kuro burger”, or “black burger” menus that sport buns, cheese and sauce all in black color, starting on Friday, Sept. 19, for a limited period. The buns and cheese are darkened with bamboo charcoal while the beef patties made with black-pepper are topped with the garlic sauce using squid ink. (Photo by Koji Sasahara/AP Photo)

Jan Kara (R) and Jan Holan pedal their boat, made with plastic bottles, on the Elbe river near Kostelec nad Labem July 15, 2014. Jan Kara, a 22-year-old student, and Jakub Bures, a 22-year-old car mechanic, built the 10-metre (32.8-feet) long boat from 5000 plastic bottles strapped to a wooden frame. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)