(L-R) Chris Diamantopoulos, AnnaLynne McCord, Matt Jones and Jane Seymour visit the Build Series at Build Studio on January 23, 2018 in New York City, United States. (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images)

A police officer sings as a hearse drives along a street as part of a campaign sponsored by the Colombian police and a funerary home to raise awareness during the new coronavirus pandemic in Envigado, Antioquia, Colombia, on April 1, 2020. More than 20,000 cases of COVID-19 were registered in Latin America and the Caribbean by Wednesday, according to an AFP tally using information provided by national health authorities and the World Health Organization. (Photo by Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP Photo)

(L-R) Pieter Van Lankveld, Jay Schippers, Ynze Oegema, Justin Kimmann, Teun Kivit and Twan Van Gendt compete during the Dutch National BMX Championships at Olympic Training Centre Papendal on October 11, 2020 in Arnhem, Netherlands. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

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.

In this January 6, 2017 photo, transgender inmates get a security check from female officers before entering their cell at Pattaya Remand Prison in Pattaya, Chonburi province, Thailand. The prison separates lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender prisoners from other inmates, a little-known policy despite being in place nationwide since 1993, according to the Department of Corrections. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)

A picture made with a tilt-shift lens shows “Dwarf Empire” cast member 19-year-old Han Zhen Yan posing in her fairy costume backstage outside one of the fairy tale-like houses at the Dwarf Empire theme park outside Kunming, China's Yunnan province, 04 April 2013. The Dwarf Empire theme park opened in mid-2009, employing a number of dwarves to create the show. Depending on what type of job they do at the park, employees earn between 800-2,000 CNY (100-250 Euros) per month, most of which goes towards their savings as lodging is provided, and their living quarters are equipped with kitchens where they prepare their own meals. (Photo by Diego Azubel/EPA)

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

Turkana tribesmen walk with guns to protect their cattle from rival tribes near Baragoy, Kenya August 4, 2017. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)