“When I was 8 years old, my parents paid a smuggler to take me across the Himalayas, a weekslong walk over the mountains from Tibet to India. It was a trek that tens of thousands of other Tibetans have taken since the Dalai Lama fled a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. My parents must have had their reasons to send me here; they must have had the best of intentions. But 18 years later, I still don't know why they did it. They are not political people. They are small farmers who raise barley and a few yak in a rural area not far from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. I have not seen them since I left...”. – Tsering Topgyal via The Associated Press. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

Gold bars from the vault of a bank and Swiss one franc coins are seen in this illustration picture taken in Zurich November 20, 2014. The “Save our Swiss gold” proposal, spearheaded by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), aims to ban the central bank from offloading its reserves and oblige it to hold at least 20 percent of its assets in gold. The referendum is scheduled for November 30. The SVP argues it would secure a stable Swiss franc. (Photo by Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

A ballet dancer attends a photo shooting as activists from the environmentalist group Greenpeace unfurl a giant banner on the Eiffel Tower which reads “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” in a call on French citizens to vote against the National Front (FN) presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, in Paris, France May 5, 2017. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

Mother and daughter volunteers Niki, right, and Rachel practice their pancake tossing technique in the streets of Wimborne model town and gardens before taking part in the Wimborne Minster virtual pancake race, in Wimborne, England, Tuesday February 16, 2021. Although a physical race cannot take place this year due to the coronavirus restrictions, Wimborne Minster has invited people to film themselves tossing a pancake for 30 seconds and posting it to Facebook. (Photo by Andrew Matthews/PA Wire via AP Photo)

Demonstrators perform a dance in front of riot policemen during a march called by students to request changes in the education system in Santiago, Chile September 5, 2017. (Photo by Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)

A pair of young visitors rushes through a tunnel of colored lights at the annual Garden of Lights display at Brookside Gardens on December, 06, 2015 in Silver Spring, MD. (Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

An Israeli police officer holds his weapon as he stands in front of an injured Israeli driver moments after witnesses said his car crashed into a Palestinian on a pavement during stone-throwing clashes near Lion's Gate just outside Jerusalem's Old City on May 10, 2021. (Photo by Ilan Rosenberg/Reuters)

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.