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.

Labourers load a three-wheeled vehicle onto the back of a van at the Mercato market in Addis Ababa October 9, 2015. Addis Ababa's “Mercato” – Italian for “market” – is reputedly the biggest open-air market in Africa, lying in the west of the capital. (Photo by Tiksa Negeri/Reuters)

Local residents crowd a swimming pool during a hot weather in Suining, Sichuan province, 27 July 2008. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Student Rabindra Bharati University celebrates the Holi festival, Color Festival on February 26, 2018 in Kolkata, India. Holi, the popular Hindu spring festival of colours is observed in India at the end of the winter season on the last full moon of the lunar month, and will be celebrated on March 1 this year. (Photo by Debajyoti Chakraborty/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Beda Haemmerli drives his 1936 Ford Indy race car (front) through a steep turn during the Indianapolis in Oerlikon race demonstration at the Offene Rennbahn cycling track in Zurich's Oerlikon suburb, Switzerland July 24, 2018. (Photo by Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

Gymnast Simone Biles performs a flip after throwing out the ceremonial first pitch prior to Game Two of the 2019 World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals at Minute Maid Park on October 23, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

A Hindu devotee is helped by other people as she walks on burning coals during a religious procession Vel Festival of the Hindu goddess Maha Mariamman (Sheetla Mata), in New Delhi, India, 06 April 2017. People get their bodies pierced with different kinds of metal needles and rods and participate in a religious procession as thanks giving gesture to the goddess in return of their fulfilled wishes during the annual procession. (Photo by Rajat Gupta/EPA)

Vietnam's Pham Hong Anh in action during her single dance final during the Southeast Asian Games' DanceSport competition in Mabalacat, Philippines, December 1, 2019. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)