diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/SupervisorSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/SupervisorSpec.scala
index 91701596a6..d295e6db4f 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/SupervisorSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/SupervisorSpec.scala
@@ -157,6 +157,55 @@ class SupervisorSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterEach with ImplicitSende
       expectNoMsg(1 second)
     }
 
+    "restart properly when same instance is returned" in {
+      val restarts = 3 //max number of restarts
+      lazy val childInstance = new Actor {
+        var preRestarts = 0
+        var postRestarts = 0
+        var preStarts = 0
+        var postStops = 0
+        override def preRestart(reason: Throwable, message: Option[Any]) { preRestarts += 1; testActor ! ("preRestart" + preRestarts) }
+        override def postRestart(reason: Throwable) { postRestarts += 1; testActor ! ("postRestart" + postRestarts) }
+        override def preStart() { preStarts += 1; testActor ! ("preStart" + preStarts) }
+        override def postStop() { postStops += 1; testActor ! ("postStop" + postStops) }
+        def receive = {
+          case "crash" ⇒ testActor ! "crashed"; throw new RuntimeException("Expected")
+          case "ping"  ⇒ sender ! "pong"
+        }
+      }
+      val master = system.actorOf(Props(new Actor {
+        override val supervisorStrategy = OneForOneStrategy(maxNrOfRetries = restarts)(List(classOf[Exception]))
+        val child = context.actorOf(Props(childInstance))
+        def receive = {
+          case msg ⇒ child forward msg
+        }
+      }))
+
+      expectMsg("preStart1")
+
+      master ! "ping"
+      expectMsg("pong")
+
+      filterEvents(EventFilter[RuntimeException]("Expected", occurrences = restarts + 1)) {
+        (1 to restarts) foreach {
+          i ⇒
+            master ! "crash"
+            expectMsg("crashed")
+
+            expectMsg("preRestart" + i)
+            expectMsg("postRestart" + i)
+
+            master ! "ping"
+            expectMsg("pong")
+        }
+        master ! "crash"
+        expectMsg("crashed")
+        expectMsg("postStop1")
+      }
+
+      expectNoMsg(1 second)
+    }
+
     "not restart temporary actor" in {
       val (temporaryActor, _) = temporaryActorAllForOne
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
index d577688526..583429ad6b 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorCell.scala
@@ -529,7 +529,7 @@ private[akka] class ActorCell(
           try {
             if (failedActor.context ne null) failedActor.preRestart(cause, if (c ne null) Some(c.message) else None)
           } finally {
-            clearActorFields()
+            clearActorFields(failedActor)
           }
         }
         childrenRefs match {
@@ -537,7 +537,7 @@ private[akka] class ActorCell(
             childrenRefs = ct.copy(reason = Recreation(cause))
             dispatcher suspend this
           case _ ⇒
-            doRecreate(cause)
+            doRecreate(cause, failedActor)
         }
       } catch {
         case NonFatal(e) ⇒ try {
@@ -696,18 +696,19 @@ private[akka] class ActorCell(
           system.eventStream.publish(Debug(self.path.toString, clazz(actor), "stopped"))
       } finally {
         if (a ne null) a.clearBehaviorStack()
-        clearActorFields()
+        clearActorFields(a)
         actor = null
       }
     }
   }
 
-  private def doRecreate(cause: Throwable): Unit = try {
+  private def doRecreate(cause: Throwable, failedActor: Actor): Unit = try {
     // after all killed children have terminated, recreate the rest, then go on to start the new instance
     actor.supervisorStrategy.handleSupervisorRestarted(cause, self, children)
 
     val freshActor = newActor()
     actor = freshActor // this must happen before postRestart has a chance to fail
+    if (freshActor eq failedActor) setActorFields(freshActor, this, self) // If the creator returns the same instance, we need to restore our nulled out fields.
 
     freshActor.postRestart(cause)
     if (system.settings.DebugLifecycle) system.eventStream.publish(Debug(self.path.toString, clazz(freshActor), "restarted"))
@@ -719,6 +720,7 @@ private[akka] class ActorCell(
       // prevent any further messages to be processed until the actor has been restarted
       dispatcher.suspend(this)
       actor.supervisorStrategy.handleSupervisorFailing(self, children)
+      clearActorFields(actor) // If this fails, we need to ensure that preRestart isn't called.
     } finally {
       parent.tell(Failed(ActorInitializationException(self, "exception during re-creation", e)), self)
     }
@@ -736,7 +738,7 @@ private[akka] class ActorCell(
         childrenRefs = n
         actor.supervisorStrategy.handleChildTerminated(this, child, children)
         if (!n.isInstanceOf[TerminatingChildrenContainer]) reason match {
-          case Recreation(cause) ⇒ doRecreate(cause)
+          case Recreation(cause) ⇒ doRecreate(cause, actor) // doRecreate since this is the continuation of "recreate"
           case Termination       ⇒ doTerminate()
           case _                 ⇒
         }
@@ -775,12 +777,12 @@ private[akka] class ActorCell(
     }
   }
 
-  final def clearActorFields(): Unit = {
-    setActorFields(context = null, self = system.deadLetters)
+  final def clearActorFields(actorInstance: Actor): Unit = {
+    setActorFields(actorInstance, context = null, self = system.deadLetters)
     currentMessage = null
   }
 
-  final def setActorFields(context: ActorContext, self: ActorRef) {
+  final def setActorFields(actorInstance: Actor, context: ActorContext, self: ActorRef) {
     @tailrec
     def lookupAndSetField(clazz: Class[_], actor: Actor, name: String, value: Any): Boolean = {
       val success = try {
@@ -799,10 +801,9 @@ private[akka] class ActorCell(
         lookupAndSetField(parent, actor, name, value)
       }
     }
-    val a = actor
-    if (a ne null) {
-      lookupAndSetField(a.getClass, a, "context", context)
-      lookupAndSetField(a.getClass, a, "self", self)
+    if (actorInstance ne null) {
+      lookupAndSetField(actorInstance.getClass, actorInstance, "context", context)
+      lookupAndSetField(actorInstance.getClass, actorInstance, "self", self)
     }
   }