A street artist dances tango in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, January 20, 2015. Tango is a partner dance that originated in the 1890's along the Rio de la Plata, the border between Uruguay and Argentina. UNESCO approved in 2009, a joint proposal by the two nations to include the dance in its Intangible Cultural Heritage List. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP 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.

Wadha al-Sayyed, wife of captive Lebanese soldier Khaled Moqbel, protests for his release and government action, near burning tyres blocking a road in Beirut, December 15, 2014. More than two dozen members of the Lebanese security forces are being held by Sunni Islamists. (Photo by Hasan Shaaban/Reuters)

A Palestinian worker carries stalks at a sugar cane farm in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, on October 19, 2020. (Photo by Said Khatib/AFP Photo)

A woman cools off after taking a traditional steam bath (banya) at Sergei Benke's homestead in the village of Bobrovka, Tarsky District in Omsk Region, Russia on December 11, 2020. (Photo by Sergei Malgavko/TASS)

18-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Uleywa, who was shot in the foot about 2 years ago by Israeli soldiers and lost one of his feet in the hospital where he was taken, is seen in Gaza City, Gaza on December 13, 2020. Palestinian youth Mohammed Uleywa, who became disabled after lost one foot during the “Great March of Return” demonstrations on the border of the blockaded Gaza Strip, showed his skills in parkour on concrete blocks despite his disability. (Photo by Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

In this photograph taken on January 29, 2017, Afghan members of a wushu martial arts group led by trainer Sima Azimi (C), 20, pose for a photograph at the Shahrak Haji Nabi hilltop overlooking Kabul. Afghanistan's first female wushu trainer, Sima Azimi, 20, is training 20 Afghan girls aged between 14 – 20 at a wushu club in Kabul, after learning the sport while living as a refugee in Iran. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP Photo)

A woman participates in an insect-eating competition at a scenic spot in Lijiang, Yunnan province, China June 25, 2017. Insects have been a part of Yunnan cuisine for centuries, long before their potential as sustainable sources of protein caught the eye of the Western world. Bee larvae, grasshoppers and cicadas are just some items found on menus in the region. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)