Entertainers perform during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on August 24, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Lisi Niesner/Reuters)

During a jungle survival program February 20, 2013 taught by Royal Thai Special Forces in Sannapit, Thailand, U.S. Marines learned to catch cobras and drink their fresh blood, not to mention eat forest insects and pull the heads off of chicken. The training was part of Operation Cobra Gold 13, the 32nd edition of international military exercises hosted by the Thai. According to a U.S. Marines press release, Cobra Gold is the largest exercise of its kind in Asia and incorporates troops from five other nations in addition to the U.S. and Thailand. The Daily Mail reports that the Marines were invited to experience the local custom of drinking cobra blood after being taught to catch and kill cobras in the wild. As CNN notes, Cobra blood is believed to be a panacea and aphrodiasic in parts of Southeast Asia. In Jakarta, vendors can earn over $100 a night selling shots of cobra blood mixed with liquor. (Photo by Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/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.

Bronze whaler shark (Carcharhinus brachyurus), caught in traditional seine net and released by fisherman, Muizenberg beach, Cape Town, South Africa on October 11, 2016. Action shots have captured fishermen trying to free a potentially deadly Bronze Whaler shark who was caught in their nets. The incredible images show the eight-foot-long 500-pound predator lunging its mouth towards the fishermen who are desperately trying to pull it back into the safety of the sea by its tail. Eventually they succeeded. (Photo by Chris and Monique Fallows/NPL)

Rice seedling festival is a traditional folk festival in longji, guangxi, China on June 9, 2019, during grain in ear season. (Photo by Costfoto/Barcroft Media)

Base jumpers leap from the 300-metre high skydeck of Malaysia's landmark Kuala Lumpur Tower against the backdrop of the city's skyline on October 3, 2016 during the annual International KL Tower Base-Jump event. (Photo by Manan Vatsyayana/AFP Photo)

Members of the Dominican Armed Forces participate in a commemorative act on the 170th anniversary of national independence at the esplanade of Santo Domingo, on February 27, 2014. (Photo by Orlando Barria/EPA)

Female Chimpanzee “Fifi” eats carrots as she sits in her enclosure at Taronga Zoo on her 60th birthday May 21, 2007 in Sydney, Australia. Fifi is the oldest of the Zoo's chimp population, which consists of 19 individuals. (Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images)