Jimmy Arnold, an overweight boy from Rochester, bites into a cake. (Photo by Reg Birkett/Keystone/Getty Images). 14th April 1951

Chinelos (traditional costumed dancers) perform in front of San Andres Ocotlan church as part of continuing festivities to welcome the new year in Calimaya, Mexico on January 4, 2016. (Photo by Arturo Hernandez/Demotix/Corbis)

Police fire rubber bullets as they help an Atletico Paranaense fan during clashes between Vasco da Gama soccer fans and Atletico Paranaense fans at their Brazilian championship match in Joinville in Santa Catarina, on December 8, 2013. Dozens of fans fought a savage battle on the terraces at the match on Sunday, interrupting play for more than one hour and leaving at least three people reportedly in serious condition. (Photo by Carlos Moraes/Agência O DIA)

A prisoner from the Pedrinhas prison is carried to receive medical help after he was injured during a fight between rival gangs inside the jail, in Sao Luiz, capital of Maranhao state, January 8, 2014. The recent posting on a major Brazilian news website of a video filmed last December 17 by Pedrinhas prisoners of the decapitated and tortured bodies of rival inmates inside the jail has highlighted some of the problems present in the country's prison system which houses nearly twice as many prisoners as its capacity, according to official statistics. (Photo by Douglas Cunha/Reuters/O Estado do Maranhão)

A nurse consoles herself with a box of chocolates as she reads a paper-back thriller. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Circa 1955

Members of the 2013 “Jarl Squad” take part in the annual Up Helly Aa festival which culminates in the burning of a Viking Galley in Lerwick, Shetland Islands on January 29, 2013. Up Helly Aa celebrates the influence of the Scandinavian Vikings in the Shetland Islands and has employed this theme in the festival since 1870. The event culminates with up to 1,000 “guizers” (men in costume) throwing flaming torches into their Viking longboat. (Photo by Andy Buchanan/AFP Photo)

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.

The Flying Bull's P-38 Lockheed Lightning N25Y / 13 – Red Bull – Flying Legends Airshow 2012 Duxford (Photo by Rob Lovesey)