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.

North Korean women in colorful traditional dresses are surrounded by flower blossoms known as “Kimilsungia” as they wait to guide guests at a flower exhibition in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 14, 2014. The flowers, named after Kim Il Sung, are on display to celebrate the late leader's official birth date of April 15, 1912. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

Revelers take a selfie during a Holi Festival in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, April 26, 2015. The festival is based on the Hindu spring festival Holi, also known as the festival of colours where participants colour each other with dry powder and coloured water. (Photo by Andres Kudacki/AP Photo)

Hungarian Puli sheep dog, Fee, jumps over a hurdle during a preview for a pedigree dog show in Dortmund on Thursday April 24, 2008. (Photo by Frank Augstein/AP Photo)

Caretaker Khalifa Sajad feeds crocodiles at the Sufi shrine of Hasan-al-Maroof Sultan Manghopir, better known as the Crocodile Shrine, on the outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan October 11, 2015. Pakistani Sheedi pilgrims are once again flocking to the shrine in Karachi that has been shunned for years amid fears of Taliban attacks. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)

An ice covered entrance door to the international gene bank Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) near Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen, Norway, October 20, 2015. Two consignments of crop seeds will be deposited next year in a “doomsday vault” built in an Arctic mountainside to safeguard global supplies. The vault, which opened on the Svalbard archipelago in 2008, is designed to protect crop seeds, such as beans, rice and wheat against the worst cataclysms of nuclear war or disease. (Photo by Anna Filipova/Reuters)

Life as tenant farmers in Kasungu, northern Malawi, can be a struggle for families trapped in poverty, who feel forced to rely on their children’s help, impacting schooling. Here: A tobacco field at a farm in Kasungu region, Malawi. Tobacco is the country’s most important export crop, with tobacco leaf from Malawi filling cigarettes found all over the world. Here: Tiyamike Phiri hopes to become a nurse because she wants to travel the country and help others. (Photo by David Levene/The Guardian)