Andrew O'Keefe

Infobox Person
name = Andrew O'Keefe


caption = Andrew O'Keefe at Telethon 2006.
birth_date = birth date and age|df=yes|1971|10|1
birth_place = Sydney, New South Wales
death_date =
death_place =
other_names =
known_for = Deal or No Deal, The Rich List, Weekend Sunrise, Big Bite
occupation = Seven Network personality

Andrew Patrick O'Keefe (born 1 October 1971) is a television personality and gameshow host who formerly worked as an intellectual property lawyer. He is the son of former Supreme Court of New South Wales judge Barry O'Keefe and nephew of Australian rock and roll musician Johnny O'Keefe. He is most well known for being the host of the Australian version of Deal or No Deal. [ [http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/about_060329_andrewokeefe Andrew O'Keefe - Weekend Sunrise co-host - Yahoo!7 ] ]

Personal life

Fourth of five children to his parents Barry and Jan O'Keefe, he is half Croatian (on his mother's side). O'Keefe was born and grew up in the Sydney suburb of Mosman. Andrew attended St Ignatius' College, Riverview in Lane Cove. He was part of the winning NSW team at the National Schools Debating Championships in 1989, going on to be part of the Australian team. He studied at the University of Sydney, where he was heavily involved in Theatresports and faculty revues throughout his undergraduate years. After graduating in 1999 with a BA, LLB and a Diploma in Singing, he accepted a position with Sydney law firm Allens Arthur Robinson. Even with a legal career, Andrew continued to do Theatresports and improv comedy.He is Recording an album at Roseville College, Roseville, NSW. Currently he is married with two kids.

Career

O'Keefe accepted a contract with the Seven Network in 2002. He appeared on sketch comedy show "Big Bite", which was nominated for two AFI Awards. On the show, he did impersonations of Russell Crowe, Eddie McGuire and Aristos Papandroulakis. He is currently the host of the game show "Deal or No Deal" and formerly hosted the reality series "Dragons' Den". On 2 April 2006, he replaced Chris Reason on the Sunday version of the highly successful morning program, "Weekend Sunrise". In January 2007 O'Keefe also became the host of the Channel 7 game show "The Rich List".

He was nominated for a Logie Award in the category of "Best New Male Talent" in 2004, and again in 2005 for "Most Popular Presenter". He co-hosted the "2005 TV Week Logie Awards" in Melbourne and "Australia Unites: Reach Out to Asia", a fundraiser for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami. O'Keefe has also appeared on shows such as "Hamish and Andy" and the "Celebrity Spelling Bee", in which he came second.

It has been confirmed that O'Keefe's many other side-projects for 2007-2008 will include completing the walk of the Kokoda Trail in commemoration of Australia's "World War II" servicemenFact|date=September 2007 and a cameo appearance in the forthcoming new series of the popular Australian comedy series "Kath and Kim". In mid-2007, O'Keefe created two pilot episodes for a 'tonight show'-style program, entitled "AOK Tonight". Despite media reports indicating the show would be greenlit, the Seven Network passed on the show in August 2007. In a surprise development, however, the Seven Network recently announced the show had been commissioned, and will air on Seven's HD channel commencing in 2008.

References

External links

* [http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/about_060329_andrewokeefe Sunrise profile]