| Andrew O'Keefe | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 October 1971 Sydney |
| Occupation | Deal or No Deal Weekend Sunrise The Rich List Big Bite |
| Years active | 2003-Present |
Andrew Patrick O'Keefe (born 1 October 1971) is an Australian entertainer, best known for being the host of the hit game-show Deal or No Deal. He is also the co-host of Weekend Sunrise.
He formerly worked as an intellectual property lawyer with Australian law firm Allens Arthur Robinson, and for a short time with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Sydney. He is the son of former Supreme Court of New South Wales judge Barry O'Keefe, nephew of the late Australian rock and roll musician Johnny O'Keefe and brother of University of Cambridge international lawyer Roger O'Keefe.
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O'Keefe first started his television career in 2003, starring in Channel Seven's AFI-nominated sketch show Big Bite (the same show on which Summer Heights High's Chris Lilley got his TV break). Late the same year he began hosting Deal or no Deal, the first version of the show outside its home country The Netherlands. It has been on screen continuously since 2003, has run to over 1,500 episodes to December 2010, and has since been produced in over 75 countries around the world.
In 2004, O'Keefe co-hosted the historic tri-network tsunami appeal Reach Out with fellow presenters Eddie McGuire and Rove McManus, which raised over $20 million for tsunami relief efforts around Asia. The event was such a success that the three teamed up the following year to host, The TV Week Logies.
From 2007 until 2009, O'Keefe hosted the quiz show The Rich List, and in 2006 took the helm of Weekend Sunrise, which he currently hosts every Saturday and Sunday morning with journalist Samantha Armytage.
In 2010 Andrew appeared in the Christmas special episode of Review with Myles Barlow.
O'Keefe is the chairman of the White Ribbon Foundation in Australia, an organisation dedicated to the prevention of violence against women. He was one of the founding members of the campaign in Australia and has been an ambassador since 2004. The campaign is active in schools, workplaces, sports clubs, councils and other community organisations, and seeks to rally men and boys as leaders in the fight against violence.[1]
As a result of his work with the Foundation, O'Keefe was appointed to the inaugural National Council for the Prevention of Violence Against Women, which drafted the report Time for Action: Australia's National Plan for Reducing Violence Against Women and their Children on behalf of the federal government.[2]
O'Keefe is also a supporter of several other charity organisations including the Garvan Institute for gene research, Kids of Kokoda, the Bell Shakespeare Company and The Wilderness Society.
O'Keefe studied arts and law at the University of Sydney, where he was heavily involved in Theatresports and faculty revues. He played Theatresports most Sunday nights at the Belvoir Street Theatre in Sydney, winning a Cranston Cup series with two-man team Dirty Harry's Bathwater.
In 2001 he was a member of the Australian Theatresports team that won the Just for Laughs Improv Tournament at the Montreal Comedy Festival. He has an A.Mus in classical singing (baritone), was the frontman for several Sydney bands in the '90s, and plays trumpet and piano.
| Preceded by Chris Reason |
Weekend Sunrise Co-host with Samantha Armytage 2006 – present |
Succeeded by incumbent |
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