[1] O'Keefe was born on 9 December 1984 in Malaysia to Stephen, who worked for the Royal Australian Air Force, and Jan, a nurse.

The family, which also includes O'Keefe's sister Rebekah, later moved to Sale, Victoria and then to Richmond, New South Wales.

[3] O'Keefe was later fined $20,000 and suspended from the domestic Matador Cup following an alcohol-fueled incident in April 2017, in which he was reported to have made 'highly inappropriate comments' to New South Wales Breakers cricketer Rachael Haynes and her partner at Cricket NSW's Steve Waugh Medal function.

O'Keefe is best known in the big bash during its fourth edition when he hit a last ball boundary of the bowling of Josh Lalor, to win a thriller against the Sydney Thunder which was Brett lee's final match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

[9] The Australian selectors dropped Nathan Hauritz but used Xavier Doherty, Michael Beer and Steve Smith as spinners.

When the touring team for Sri Lanka and South Africa in late 2011 was picked, O'Keefe was overlooked in favour of Nathan Lyon.

This made him the second highest wicket taking spinner in Australia, after Nathan Lyon but at a much better average.

[11] However he was overlooked in favour of Xavier Doherty, who had taken two first class wickets that summer, and batting all rounder Glenn Maxwell, who had taken nine.

Whether his cause was further harmed, too, by his occasional bucking of the old-school maxim that you don't question selectors is unknown, too.

He finished the 2013/14 domestic Sheffield Shield season as the leading wicket taker for the NSW Blues, just edging out Western Australia's Jason Behrendorff.

Kerry O'Keeffe (no relation) said at the time: It is a reward for some of the stuff he has done over the past two years.

He was overlooked for selection on the 2015 tours of the West Indies and England in favour of Fawad Ahmed, who ultimately ended up playing no Tests.

In April 2020, New South Wales did not renew his contract to play in the Sheffield Shield, O’Keefe announcing his retirement from first-class and List A cricket.

In the lead-up to the 2010–11 Ashes series, O'Keefe performed impressively taking 4/88 for 'Australia-A' in a tour game against a full strength English batting line up in Hobart.

"[20] He made his Test match debut for Australia against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates on 22 October 2014.

At the time, this was India's worst collapse in any Test match, losing their last seven wickets for eleven runs.