diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
index fb33b2ab85..8c68ba3315 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
@@ -509,7 +509,14 @@ private[akka] class ActorCell(
         checkReceiveTimeout
         if (system.settings.DebugLifecycle) system.eventStream.publish(Debug(self.path.toString, clazz(created), "started (" + created + ")"))
       } catch {
-        case NonFatal(e) ⇒ throw ActorInitializationException(self, "exception during creation", e)
+        case NonFatal(i: InstantiationException) ⇒
+          throw ActorInitializationException(self,
+            """exception during creation, this problem is likely to occur because the class of the Actor you tried to create is either,
+               a non-static inner class (in which case make it a static inner class or use Props(new ...) or Props( new UntypedActorFactory ... )
+               or is missing an appropriate, reachable no-args constructor.
+            """, i)
+        case NonFatal(e) ⇒
+          throw ActorInitializationException(self, "exception during creation", e)
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Props.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Props.scala
index b78c0a5eb4..3751898c5c 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Props.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Props.scala
@@ -43,14 +43,14 @@ object Props {
    * Scala API.
    */
   def apply[T <: Actor: ClassManifest]: Props =
-    default.withCreator(implicitly[ClassManifest[T]].erasure.asInstanceOf[Class[_ <: Actor]].newInstance)
+    default.withCreator(implicitly[ClassManifest[T]].erasure.asInstanceOf[Class[_ <: Actor]])
 
   /**
    * Returns a Props that has default values except for "creator" which will be a function that creates an instance
    * of the supplied class using the default constructor.
    */
   def apply(actorClass: Class[_ <: Actor]): Props =
-    default.withCreator(actorClass.newInstance)
+    default.withCreator(actorClass)
 
   /**
    * Returns a Props that has default values except for "creator" which will be a function that creates an instance
@@ -70,7 +70,6 @@ object Props {
 
   def apply(behavior: ActorContext ⇒ Actor.Receive): Props =
     apply(new Actor { def receive = behavior(context) })
-
 }
 
 /**