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.

Mug shot of De Gracy (sic) and Edward Dalton. Details unknown. Central Police Station, Sydney, around 1920. (Photo by NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive, Justice & Police Museum, Histiric Houses Trust of NSW)

Venezuela's food shortages, inflation and crumbling medical sector have become such a source of anguish that a growing number of young women are reluctantly opting for sterilizations rather than face the hardship of pregnancy and child-rearing. Traditional contraceptives like condoms or birth control pills have virtually vanished from store shelves, pushing women towards the hard-to-reverse surgery. While no recent national statistics on sterilizations are available, doctors and health workers say demand for the procedure is growing. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

These stunning pictures show a normally vicious tiger calmly swimming in a pool of algae, on Jule 9, 2014. The powerful cat takes a refreshing break by taking a dip in the bright green algae. But it looks like this big cat is scared of getting his head wet as he strains to keep it above the water. After splashing around for a bit the tiger gets out and tries to air-dry with specks of the vegetation dripping off his fur. The striking pictures were taken at Copenhagen zoo by snapper Soren Lundgren Neilson. (Photo by Soren Nielsen/Caters News)

Some Iraqi candidates for Miss Iraq beauty contest pose in front of the Ishtar Gate at the ancient archaeological site of Babylon, outside the modern city of Hilla, south of the capital Baghdad on December 17, 2015. The beauty contest, which is the first one in more than 40 years, aims to boost tourism in the city and will take place on December 19, 2015. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)

2000 attended a welcome party at TigerTiger Manchester which was the first event in set of big club night for new students to Manchester and Salford universities in Manchester, UK on September 19, 2016. This year, university bosses have stepped up security in Manchester. (Photo by Jordan Sinclair/UK News Pictures)

In this publication you can see some best pictures of photographer Chris Hondros, who was killed on April 20, 2011 by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) in Misrata, Libya.

Photo: “Getty Images” photographer Chris Hondros (1970–2011) walks the ruins of a building August 21, 2006 in southern Beirut, Lebanon. (Photo by Getty Images)

Sheriffs' deputies look at wreckage from the crash of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo near Cantil, California November 2, 2014. A suborbital passenger spaceship being developed by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic company crashed during a test flight on Friday at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, killing one crew member and seriously injuring the other, officials said. (Photo by David McNew/Reuters)