Karis, a one month old lion cub being weighed at Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling, Scotland, Thursday October 10, 2013. Weighing in at 5kg, the cub will stay with her mother, Teekay until she is 12 weeks old before they are returned to the pride. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/AP Photo/PA Wire)

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.

Spanish artist Romulo Celdran (b. 1973) brings exquisite technical skill, a fastidious eye, and a scientific attention to detail to both his mixed-media drawings on board and his larger-than-life sculptures of quotidian objects.

Susanna Bauer was born in 1969 in Bavaria, Germany. She has lived in England since 1996. Susanna has worked for the television and film industry for over 16 years, making objects like King Arthur’s chalice, cheeses for Wallace and Gromit, miniature robots, spaceships and buildings.

An Iraqi man comforts his 4-year-old son at a regroupment center for POWs of the 101st Airborne Division near An Najaf, Iraq, March 31, 2003. The man was seized in An Najaf with his son and the U.S. military did not want to separate them. (Photo by Jean-Marc Bouju/Associated Press)

A visitors to the National Galleries of Scotland view the work “A girl” of sculptor Ron Mueck on August 4, 2006 Edinburgh in Scotland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Singer Whitney Houston performs onstage at the 2009 American Music Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on November 22, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)