Gymnast Simone Biles performs a flip after throwing out the ceremonial first pitch prior to Game Two of the 2019 World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals at Minute Maid Park on October 23, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

An Iraqi youth shows-off his balancing skills as he performs stunts on a motorbike, on the bank of the Shatt Al-Arab river at sunset, in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, on March 17, 2021. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)

Villagers cry for their relatives who were killed in an earthquake during a funeral in Longmen village, in Lushan county in southwest China's Sichuan province, on April 21, 2013. Rescuers and relief teams struggled to rush supplies into the rural hills of the area after an earthquake left at least 180 people dead and more than 11,000 injured. (Photo by Associated Press)

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.

The Dynasphere, an electrically-driven wheel, invented by Mr. J. A. Purves of Taunton and his son. It had 2.5 horse power and once attained a speed of 25 mph. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). 1932

Attendees wear a cardboard “Facebox” at the 2017 South By Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas, U.S., on Monday, March 13, 2017. The SXSW Interactive Festival features a variety of tracks that allow attendees to explore what's next in the worlds of entertainment, culture, and technology. (Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)

A Chinese bus ushers jump as she pose for a photograph on Tiananmen Square during a plenary session of the National People's Congress held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Wednesday, March 9, 2016. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)