Visitors run away as waves caused by a tidal bore surge past a barrier on the banks of Qiantang River, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province August 13, 2014. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

In this May 17, 2015, photo, two men walk past pagodas at Ngwe Saung beach, Pathein township, about 145 miles from Yangon, Myanmar. (Photo by Khin Maung Win/AP Photo)

“Slow”. A calm cow in the messy streets of Jodhpur. Photo location: India. (Photo and caption by Matthias Troeger/National Geographic Photo Contest)

As the sun sets on the Malecon in Havana on Friday January 23, 2015, Surenis Angulo de la Paz, 24, center, dances as group of locals play music around her. Behind her is Fidel Lopez, 55. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

A bear that wandered into a University of Colorado Boulder dorm complex falls from a tree after being tranquilized by Colorado wildlife officials on April 26, 2012. Colorado wildlife official Jennifer Churchill said that the 200-pound male bear was tagged and relocated to a remote Rocky Mountain area. The bear was hit by two cars on May 3 and died. (Photo by Andy Duann)

A Hindu devotee lies on a road as she worships the Sun god during the religious festival of Chhath Puja in Kolkata, India October 26, 2017. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

A woman walks at the Boulevard of the River the eve of the International Women's Day, in Cali, Colombia, 07 March 2019. (Photo by Ernesto Guzman Jr./EPA/EFE)

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.