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.

A child rescued from Boko Haram in Sambisa forest is seen at the Internally Displaced People's camp in Yola, Nigeria May 3, 2015. Hundreds of traumatised Nigerian women and children rescued from Boko Haram Islamists have been released into the care of authorities at a refugee camp in the eastern town of Yola, an army spokesman said. (Photo by Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)

Students walk to school on the first day of their new school year in Giza, south of Cairo, Egypt September 25, 2016. (Photo by Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)

Singer Ariana Grande (C) performs “Side by Side” during the 2016 American Music Awards in Los Angeles, California, U.S., November 20, 2016. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

In this Wednesday, April 12, 2017, photo, waitresses wait outside a restaurant in Pyongyang, North Korea. A generational divide is quietly growing in North Korea, often hidden behind relentless propaganda. On the streets there are young women in not-quite mini-skirts and teenage boys with baseball hats cocked sideways, K-pop style. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)

A masked participant carries a burning matress during the ancient carnival of Zubieta, in the northern Spanish Navarra province on January 30, 2018. The yearly three day festivities, revolving mainly around agriculture and principally sheep hearding, run on the last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of January where Navarra Valley locals from two villages dress up and participate in a variety of activites as they perform a pilgrimage through each village. (Photo by Ander Gillenea/AFP Photo)

Padaung ethnic women arrive to listen to the speech of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (not in picture), Chairwoman of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, during Suu Kyi's first official election campaign at Demoso township of Kayah State, eastern Myanmar, 10 September 2015. Suu Kyi is on a three-day visit to Kayah State near the Thai-Myanmar border, as part of her first official election campaign. Myanmar political parties and candidates started their campaigns on 08 September ahead of the upcoming general election, which will be held on 08 November 2015. (Photo by Lynn Bo Bo/EPA)

A performer dances at a housing exhibition in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, September 27, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)