Ryan Reynolds kicks off 2021 holiday sweater campaign for SickKids

Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds is kicking off another holiday campaign for The Hospital for Sick Children--and this year he is making sure that front-line workers don't feel left out.

It all started in 2018, when the Vancouver-born star was tricked into wearing an ugly Christmas sweater to a party by fellow actors Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.

In photos posted to social media at the time, Reynolds is seen wearing a sweater with a large, shiny gold bow while Jackman and Gyllenhaal laugh. The party, Reynolds would later find out, was not an ugly sweater-themed event.

Ryan Reynolds stands between Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal at a holiday party. (Ryan Reynolds / Instagram)

Since then, Reynolds has used that same sweater design in a campaign to raise money for Toronto's SickKids Foundation.

More than $300,000 was raised in just a few weeks in 2021 following the release of an animated video that simulated his very own holiday prank. The animation told the story of a red and green sweater with a large bow that gets passed up by every customer, except for one man who is looking for an outfit for a party that specifies “fun” attire.

This year, Reynolds kicked off the campaign with a short 50-second video on Youtube in which he called on people to donate to SickKids.

In the video, the actor is seen wearing the famous ugly sweater, which has a tag that says " To Hugh and Deb."

"The past couple of years my beloved, yet aesthetically challenged, holiday sweater has become a symbol for how much we all care about children and SickKids hospital," Ryan says. "But this year, I want to recognize the doctors and nurses too."

"And that means that, with all due respect to a certain iconic trio from the 90s, I do want scrubs."

The video then shows frontline workers unwrapping boxes to find t-shirts that have the same pattern as Reynold's ugly sweater. The shirts are green with a giant gold bow printed on it. They even have the sweater's signature blank name tag.

SickKids said that 5,000 staff will receive the replica t-shirts and a number of patients will also receive festive sweater-themed blankets.

The campaign is scheduled to run until Christmas Eve, and individual donations made before midnight will be matched by Samsung Canada, up to $100,000.

“Every child who has to be at SickKids over the holidays appreciates all the joy we can bring them,” the foundation’s website says. “ So please—help Ryan, and give generously this holiday season.”