diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
index 2884a8e4b3..8399e89504 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ abstract class ActorRef extends ActorRefShared with UntypedChannel with ReplyCha
  */
 class LocalActorRef private[akka] (
   private[this] val props: Props,
-  val address: String,
+  givenAddress: String,
   val systemService: Boolean = false,
   override private[akka] val uuid: Uuid = newUuid,
   receiveTimeout: Option[Long] = None,
@@ -184,6 +184,11 @@ class LocalActorRef private[akka] (
     actorCell.setActorContext(actorCell) // this is needed for deserialization - why?
   }
 
+  final def address: String = givenAddress match {
+    case null | "" ⇒ uuid.toString
+    case other     ⇒ other
+  }
+
   private[this] val actorCell = new ActorCell(this, props, receiveTimeout, hotswap)
   actorCell.start()
 
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala
index 437a3c288a..1e5fa15f30 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ object Remote extends RemoteService {
   private[remote] lazy val remoteDaemon =
     new LocalActorRef(
       props = Props(new RemoteDaemon).withDispatcher(new PinnedDispatcher()).withSupervisor(remoteDaemonSupervisor),
-      address = Remote.remoteDaemonServiceName,
+      givenAddress = Remote.remoteDaemonServiceName,
       systemService = true)
 
   private[remote] lazy val remoteClientLifeCycleHandler = actorOf(Props(new Actor {