Andrew O'Keefe

Andrew O'Keefe
Andrew O'Keefe at Telethon 2006.
Born	1 October, 1971 Sydney, New South Wales
Known for	Deal or No Deal, The Rich List, Weekend Sunrise, Big Bite
Occupation	Seven Network personality

Andrew 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.^[1]

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 theatre-sports and improv comedy.

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. He is currently the host of the game show Deal or No Deal and formerly hosted the reality series Dragons' Den. On April 2, 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 servicemen^{[citation needed]}; a cameo appearance in the forthcoming new series of the popular Australian comedy series Kath and Kim and a possible lead role as his late uncle Johnny O'Keefe in a Melbourne-based revival of the musical Shout. O'Keefe created two pilot episodes of a tonight show titled "AOK Tonight" in late 2007. Despite positive feedback, Seven declined the program.

References

1. ^ http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/about_060329_andrewokeefe

External links

• Sunrise profile

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