THE PARTY The nonprofit Children’s Defense Fund - California (CDF) hosted its 21st annual Beat the Odds Awards at The Beverly Hills Hotel to recognize five area high school students who have overcome adversity to achieve academic success. THE PLAYERS  CDF President Marian Wright Edelman; co-chairs Katie McGrath, J.J. Abrams, Jurnee Smollett, Josiah Bell, Carol and Frank Biondi, Ruth-Ann and Kevin Huvane, Stacey and Charles King, Conan O’Brien, Laura and Casey Wasserman; Zoë Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Elisabeth Shue, Holly Robinson and Rodney Peete, Jeff Garlin, Anton Yelchin, Alice Eve and John Cho THE HIGHLIGHTS Following cocktails and dinner, awards were presented to the fab five students by Saldana, Quinto, Shue, Smollett and Rodney Peete. And each honoree received star treatment, from head-to-toe styling for the evening to a showing of short films about their lives directed by filmmakers including Kimberly Peirce and Ali Dickson Gray. Photos by Alex J. Berliner/ABIMAGES