Born Raymond Peter O'Keefe Jr. in Mount Vernon, NY; educated at NYU. Before making movies, this affable young leading man studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and cofounded the Colonnade Theatre Lab. He made his feature-film debut in 1978 in the submarine adventure GRAY LADY DOWN and received an Oscar® nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Robert Duvall's browbeaten son in THE GREAT SANTINI (1979). O'Keefe gave a sensitive, carefully textured performance, easily keeping pace with the experienced, accomplished Duvall; critics recognized his achievement and predicted big things for him. This artistic success led to a commercial one, when O'Keefe starred the next year in the hit comedy CADDYSHACK (1980). His career has since fluctuated between leads and second leads in mostly lousy films, such as NATE AND HAYES (1983), FINDERS KEEPERS (1984), THE SLUGGER'S WIFE (1985), and THE WHOOPEE BOYS (1986), though he was excellent as a brainwash victim in SPLIT IMAGE (1982) and moving in the Jack Nicholson starrer IRONWEED (1987). In 1990, he starred in the short-lived though critically acclaimed TV crime show "Against the Law." He has also worked on and off Broadway, in such plays as Streamers and Mass Appeal. He appeared in a recurring role on the popular TV sitcom "Roseanne," and costarred in ME AND VERONICA (1993). Other notable credits include THE FIRST YEAR (1989), KANGAROO COURT (1994), GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI (1996), JUST ONE NIGHT (2000), THE PLEDGE (2001), THE HOT CHICK, DELUSION and THE INNER CIRCLE (all 2003), CHERRY CRUSH and MICHAEL CLAYTON (both 2007), and CHASING 3000 (scheduled for 2008). In the last few years, he has appeared in episodes of the TV series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation", "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", "The Closer", "Vanished", "Saving Grace", "Criminal Minds" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent". He is a Zen Buddhist and became ordained as a Zen priest in 1996. In 1991 O'Keefe married recording star Bonnie Raitt. They divorced in 2000.  Nominated for Supporting Actor 1980: THE GREAT SANTINI 1 nomination