diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
index 0b5d0889b1..99c8be2804 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import scala.collection.immutable
 import scala.compat.java8.FutureConverters
 import scala.compat.java8.OptionConverters._
 import scala.concurrent.duration.Duration
+import scala.concurrent.blocking
 import scala.concurrent.{ ExecutionContext, ExecutionContextExecutor, Future, Promise }
 import scala.util.control.{ ControlThrowable, NonFatal }
 import scala.util.{ Failure, Success, Try }
@@ -1125,7 +1126,10 @@ private[akka] class ActorSystemImpl(
   @tailrec
   private def findExtension[T <: Extension](ext: ExtensionId[T]): T = extensions.get(ext) match {
     case c: CountDownLatch =>
-      c.await(); findExtension(ext) //Registration in process, await completion and retry
+      blocking {
+        c.await()
+      }
+      findExtension(ext) //Registration in process, await completion and retry
     case t: Throwable => throw t //Initialization failed, throw same again
     case other =>
       other.asInstanceOf[T] //could be a T or null, in which case we return the null as T
diff --git a/akka-stream-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/stream/testkit/StreamTestDefaultMailbox.scala b/akka-stream-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/stream/testkit/StreamTestDefaultMailbox.scala
index 1fed257d32..1f4ae41f4e 100644
--- a/akka-stream-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/stream/testkit/StreamTestDefaultMailbox.scala
+++ b/akka-stream-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/stream/testkit/StreamTestDefaultMailbox.scala
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import akka.dispatch.MailboxType
 import akka.actor.ActorRef
 import akka.actor.ActorRefWithCell
 import akka.actor.Actor
+import akka.stream.impl.MaterializerGuardian
 
 /**
  * INTERNAL API
@@ -34,7 +35,7 @@ private[akka] final case class StreamTestDefaultMailbox()
           s"Don't use anonymous actor classes, actor class for $r was [${actorClass.getName}]")
         // StreamTcpManager is allowed to use another dispatcher
         assert(
-          !actorClass.getName.startsWith("akka.stream."),
+          actorClass == classOf[MaterializerGuardian] || !actorClass.getName.startsWith("akka.stream."),
           s"$r with actor class [${actorClass.getName}] must not run on default dispatcher in tests. " +
           "Did you forget to define `props.withDispatcher` when creating the actor? " +
           "Or did you forget to configure the `akka.stream.materializer` setting accordingly or force the " +
diff --git a/akka-stream-tests/src/test/scala/akka/stream/ActorMaterializerSpec.scala b/akka-stream-tests/src/test/scala/akka/stream/ActorMaterializerSpec.scala
index be159e44a5..177b4df4d2 100644
--- a/akka-stream-tests/src/test/scala/akka/stream/ActorMaterializerSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-stream-tests/src/test/scala/akka/stream/ActorMaterializerSpec.scala
@@ -5,23 +5,83 @@
 package akka.stream
 
 import akka.Done
+import akka.actor.ExtendedActorSystem
+import akka.actor.Extension
+import akka.actor.ExtensionId
+import akka.actor.ExtensionIdProvider
 import akka.actor.{ Actor, ActorSystem, PoisonPill, Props }
 import akka.stream.ActorMaterializerSpec.ActorWithMaterializer
 import akka.stream.impl.{ PhasedFusingActorMaterializer, StreamSupervisor }
 import akka.stream.scaladsl.{ Sink, Source }
 import akka.stream.testkit.{ StreamSpec, TestPublisher }
+import akka.testkit.TestKit
 import akka.testkit.{ ImplicitSender, TestProbe }
 import com.github.ghik.silencer.silent
+import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory
 
 import scala.concurrent.Await
+import scala.concurrent.Future
 import scala.concurrent.duration._
 import scala.util.{ Failure, Try }
 
+object IndirectMaterializerCreation extends ExtensionId[IndirectMaterializerCreation] with ExtensionIdProvider {
+  def createExtension(system: ExtendedActorSystem): IndirectMaterializerCreation =
+    new IndirectMaterializerCreation(system)
+
+  def lookup(): ExtensionId[IndirectMaterializerCreation] = this
+}
+
+@silent
+class IndirectMaterializerCreation(ex: ExtendedActorSystem) extends Extension {
+  // extension instantiation blocked on materializer (which has Await.result inside)
+  implicit val mat = ActorMaterializer()(ex)
+
+  def futureThing(n: Int): Future[Int] = {
+    Source.single(n).runWith(Sink.head)
+  }
+
+}
+
 @silent
 class ActorMaterializerSpec extends StreamSpec with ImplicitSender {
 
   "ActorMaterializer" must {
 
+    "not suffer from deadlock" in {
+      val n = 4
+      implicit val deadlockSystem = ActorSystem(
+        "ActorMaterializerSpec-deadlock",
+        ConfigFactory.parseString(s"""
+          akka.actor.default-dispatcher {
+            executor = "fork-join-executor"
+            fork-join-executor {
+              parallelism-min = $n
+              parallelism-factor = 0.5
+              parallelism-max = $n
+            }
+          }
+          # undo stream testkit specific dispatcher and run "normally"
+          akka.actor.default-mailbox.mailbox-type = "akka.dispatch.UnboundedMailbox"
+          akka.stream.materializer.dispatcher = "akka.actor.default-dispatcher"
+          """))
+      try {
+        import deadlockSystem.dispatcher
+
+        // tricky part here is that the concurrent access is to the extension
+        // so the threads are indirectly blocked and not waiting for the Await.result(ask) directly.
+        val result = Future.sequence((1 to (n + 1)).map(n =>
+          Future {
+            IndirectMaterializerCreation(deadlockSystem).mat
+          }))
+
+        // with starvation these fail
+        result.futureValue.size should ===(n + 1)
+
+      } finally {
+        TestKit.shutdownActorSystem(deadlockSystem)
+      }
+    }
+
     "report shutdown status properly" in {
       val m = ActorMaterializer.create(system)
 
diff --git a/akka-stream/src/main/scala/akka/stream/SystemMaterializer.scala b/akka-stream/src/main/scala/akka/stream/SystemMaterializer.scala
index fee8ae3ab9..1916c7d5b7 100644
--- a/akka-stream/src/main/scala/akka/stream/SystemMaterializer.scala
+++ b/akka-stream/src/main/scala/akka/stream/SystemMaterializer.scala
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import akka.actor.Extension
 import akka.actor.ExtensionId
 import akka.actor.ExtensionIdProvider
 import akka.annotation.InternalApi
+import akka.dispatch.Dispatchers
 import akka.stream.impl.MaterializerGuardian
 
 import scala.concurrent.Await
@@ -52,7 +53,8 @@ final class SystemMaterializer(system: ExtendedActorSystem) extends Extension {
   private val materializerGuardian = system.systemActorOf(
     MaterializerGuardian
       .props(systemMaterializerPromise, materializerSettings)
-      .withDispatcher(materializerSettings.dispatcher)
+      // #28037 run on internal dispatcher to make sure default dispatcher starvation doesn't stop materializer creation
+      .withDispatcher(Dispatchers.InternalDispatcherId)
       .withDeploy(Deploy.local),
     "Materializers")
 
diff --git a/akka-stream/src/main/scala/akka/stream/impl/PhasedFusingActorMaterializer.scala b/akka-stream/src/main/scala/akka/stream/impl/PhasedFusingActorMaterializer.scala
index 800ff9fdb0..e0c7291941 100644
--- a/akka-stream/src/main/scala/akka/stream/impl/PhasedFusingActorMaterializer.scala
+++ b/akka-stream/src/main/scala/akka/stream/impl/PhasedFusingActorMaterializer.scala
@@ -105,8 +105,9 @@ import com.github.ghik.silencer.silent
       attributes: Attributes): PhasedFusingActorMaterializer = {
     val haveShutDown = new AtomicBoolean(false)
 
+    val dispatcher = attributes.mandatoryAttribute[ActorAttributes.Dispatcher].dispatcher
     val supervisorProps =
-      StreamSupervisor.props(attributes, haveShutDown).withDispatcher(context.props.dispatcher).withDeploy(Deploy.local)
+      StreamSupervisor.props(attributes, haveShutDown).withDispatcher(dispatcher).withDeploy(Deploy.local)
 
     // FIXME why do we need a global unique name for the child?
     val streamSupervisor = context.actorOf(supervisorProps, StreamSupervisor.nextName())