diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
index 852446cdaf..f324e35168 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ case class UnhandledMessageException(msg: Any, ref: ActorRef = null) extends Run
 /**
  * This message is published to the EventStream whenever an Actor receives a message it doesn't understand
  */
-case class UnhandledMessage(@BeanProperty message: Any, @BeanProperty recipient: ActorRef)
+case class UnhandledMessage(@BeanProperty message: Any, @BeanProperty sender: ActorRef, @BeanProperty recipient: ActorRef)
 
 /**
  * Classes for passing status back to the sender.
@@ -271,13 +271,13 @@ trait Actor {
    * <p/>
    * Is called when a message isn't handled by the current behavior of the actor
    * by default it fails with either a [[akka.actor.DeathPactException]] (in
-   * case of an unhandled [[akka.actor.Terminated]] message) or a
-   * [[akka.actor.UnhandledMessageException]].
+   * case of an unhandled [[akka.actor.Terminated]] message) or publishes an [[akka.actor.UnhandledMessage]]
+   * to the actor's system's [[akka.event.EventStream]]
    */
   def unhandled(message: Any) {
     message match {
       case Terminated(dead) ⇒ throw new DeathPactException(dead)
-      case _                ⇒ context.system.eventStream.publish(UnhandledMessage(message, self))
+      case _                ⇒ context.system.eventStream.publish(UnhandledMessage(message, sender, self))
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/MyReceivedTimeoutUntypedActor.java b/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/MyReceivedTimeoutUntypedActor.java
index 97a1998c79..8f6636a2c9 100644
--- a/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/MyReceivedTimeoutUntypedActor.java
+++ b/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/MyReceivedTimeoutUntypedActor.java
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ public class MyReceivedTimeoutUntypedActor extends UntypedActor {
     } else if (message == Actors.receiveTimeout()) {
       throw new RuntimeException("received timeout");
     } else {
-      throw new UnhandledMessageException(message, getSelf());
+      unhandled(message);
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/MyUntypedActor.java b/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/MyUntypedActor.java
index 7b25ccee2e..a25e18f77d 100644
--- a/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/MyUntypedActor.java
+++ b/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/MyUntypedActor.java
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ public class MyUntypedActor extends UntypedActor {
     if (message instanceof String)
       log.info("Received String message: {}", message);
     else
-      throw new UnhandledMessageException(message, getSelf());
+      unhandled(message);
   }
 }
 //#my-untyped-actor
diff --git a/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/UntypedActorSwapper.java b/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/UntypedActorSwapper.java
index b64ff195e3..0ebf543cdd 100644
--- a/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/UntypedActorSwapper.java
+++ b/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/UntypedActorSwapper.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ public class UntypedActorSwapper {
           }
         });
       } else {
-        throw new UnhandledMessageException(message, getSelf());
+        unhandled(message);
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/akka-docs/scala/actors.rst b/akka-docs/scala/actors.rst
index c208497b7e..1a074b9ab6 100644
--- a/akka-docs/scala/actors.rst
+++ b/akka-docs/scala/actors.rst
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ The :class:`Actor` trait defines only one abstract method, the above mentioned
 :meth:`receive`, which implements the behavior of the actor.
 
 If the current actor behavior does not match a received message, :meth:`unhandled`
-is called, which by default throws an :class:`UnhandledMessageException`.
+is called, which by default publishes an ``akka.actor.UnhandledMessage(message, sender, recipient)``
 
 In addition, it offers: