Performers line up during the closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sunday, February 23, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Darron Cummings/AP Photo)

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 dachshund portraying a racehorse, trots down Duval Street in Key West, Florida, December 31, 2014. About 175 dachshunds and other dogs participated in the event that preludes four warm-weather takeoffs on New York City's Times Square ball drop. (Photo by Steve Panariello/Reuters/Florida Keys News Bureau)

Israeli soldiers detain a protester during a demonstration by Palestinians protesting against the Israeli-built West Bank separation barrier and calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees, in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, on May 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)

This picture shows a two-year old orangutan seized from a residents house at the provincial Nature Conservation and Agency (BKSDSA) office in Banda Aceh on September 16, 2014. The critically-endangered primates population are dwindling rapidly due to poaching and rapid destruction of their forest habitat that is being converted into palm oil plantations. (Photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP Photo)

“Warming up”. This photo I capture in the early afternoon, the animal species of lemurs fly. Photo location: Sambas, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. (Photo and caption by Hendy Mp/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A greater bird of paradise (Paradisaea apoda) displaying in Badigaki Forest, Wokam Island (Aru Islands, Indonesia). Found here in Aru and on adjacent New Guinea, the greater bird of paradise represents about 40 different species of birds of paradise that depend on intact rainforest across the New Guinea region spanning eastern Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. With more than 80% of forest cover still intact, this region represents the largest remaining block of rainforest in the entire Asia-Pacific. (Photo by Tim Laman/naturepl.com/LDY Agency)

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.