A group of women dance in a pool in Callao, Peru, Sunday, February 22, 2015. One of centers for the front-doorstep, pool-party phenomenon is Lima's port city of Callao. People hold parties in them and sometimes entire blocks chip in to buy a pool, which can be had in local department stores for a bit over $100. (Photo by Martin Mejia/AP Photo)

A security personnel plays with a girl in the compound of a health and rest centre which serves as a temporary accommodation for refugees from eastern regions of the country in the town of Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region, Ukraine, July 30, 2015. More than 400 people who left eastern Ukraine due to a military conflict have arrived at the sanatorium in Korostyshiv since the summer of 2014, according to representatives. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

A truck carrying gold miners across the Sahara desert to far northern Niger drives outside Agadez, Niger, May 9, 2016. (Photo by Joe Penney/Reuters)

Cattle are the most important way of livelihood for the Karamojong: they provide milk, meat, blood and money when sold, Karamoja, Uganda, February 2017. (Photo by Sumy Sadurni/Barcroft Images)

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 man rides a motorcycle during the first gathering of motorists at the beginning of the spring season in Mirna Pec April 6, 2015. Some 7000 motorists gathered to be blessed by a priest for a safe ride in the spring. (Photo by Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters)

A stuntman performs while riding a car inside the “Wall of Death” attraction during a fair in Bhaktapur April 20, 2015. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

“The Independence day”. While on storm chasing expeditions in the Tornado Alley in USA I have encountered many photogenic supercell storms. This photograph was taken while we were approaching the storm near Julesburg, Colorado on My 28th, 2013. The storm was tornado warned for more than one hour, but stayed an LP storm through all its cycles and never produced a tornado, just occasional brief funnels, large hail and some rain. Photo location: Julesburg, Colorado, USA. (Photo and caption by Marko Korošec/National Geographic Photo Contest)