Women perform under black fabric during a street performance in Pristina on October 6, 2017 against sexual harassments in Kosovo. (Photo by Armend Nimani/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.

A girl watches as Saen Dao, an eight-year-old female asian elephant, and her mahout perform underwater during a show at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi south of Bangkok on June 1, 2017. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt/AFP Photo)

Victor Peralta from Uruguay gestures during the fourth International Tattoo Convention in Quito, September 25, 2016. (Photo by Kevin Granja/Reuters)

People participate in a winter fishing event in Changchun, Jilin province, China, December 25, 2016. Picture taken December 25, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A spectator shows off her green, white and gold eyelashes as the annual Saint Patrick's day parade takes place on March 17, 2018 in Dublin, Ireland. Dublin hosts the largest Saint Patrick's day parade in the world with a route spanning 2.5 km. The Irish annals for the fifth century date Patrick's arrival in Ireland in the year 432 with the patron saint of Ireland's remains believed to be buried at Down Cathedral in County Down. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

A police cadet casts her vote in the presidential election in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, March 18, 2018. Vladimir Putin headed to an overwhelming win in Russia' s presidential election Sunday, adding six years in the Kremlin for the man who has led the world' s largest country for all of the 21 st century. (Photo by Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo)

Hotel staff practice self-defence skills after a training session given by team member of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, April 7, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)