diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
index 1c94d4304d..ccf8b3c6c8 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ import akka.AkkaException
 import scala.reflect.BeanProperty
 import scala.util.control.NoStackTrace
 import com.eaio.uuid.UUID
-import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
 import java.util.{ Collection ⇒ JCollection }
 import java.util.regex.Pattern
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
index 203c8e3510..5e6f2e72e4 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory
 import com.typesafe.config.ConfigParseOptions
 import com.typesafe.config.ConfigResolveOptions
 import com.typesafe.config.ConfigException
-import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
 import akka.util.{ Helpers, Duration, ReflectiveAccess }
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong
 import java.util.concurrent.{ CountDownLatch, Executors, ConcurrentHashMap }
@@ -409,9 +408,8 @@ class ActorSystemImpl(val name: String, applicationConfig: Config) extends Actor
     val values: Array[AnyRef] = arguments map (_._2) toArray
 
     ReflectiveAccess.createInstance[ActorRefProvider](providerClass, types, values) match {
-      case Left(e: InvocationTargetException) ⇒ throw e.getTargetException
-      case Left(e)                            ⇒ throw e
-      case Right(p)                           ⇒ p
+      case Left(e)  ⇒ throw e
+      case Right(p) ⇒ p
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Mailbox.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Mailbox.scala
index d9951c61e8..1691713ea3 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Mailbox.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Mailbox.scala
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import java.util.concurrent._
 import annotation.tailrec
 import akka.event.Logging.Error
 import com.typesafe.config.Config
-import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
 import akka.actor.ActorContext
 
 class MessageQueueAppendFailedException(message: String, cause: Throwable = null) extends AkkaException(message, cause)
@@ -393,12 +392,8 @@ class CustomMailboxType(mailboxFQN: String) extends MailboxType {
     ReflectiveAccess.createInstance[AnyRef](mailboxFQN, constructorSignature, Array[AnyRef](receiver)) match {
       case Right(instance) ⇒ instance.asInstanceOf[Mailbox]
       case Left(exception) ⇒
-        val cause = exception match {
-          case i: InvocationTargetException ⇒ i.getTargetException
-          case _                            ⇒ exception
-        }
         throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot instantiate mailbox [%s] due to: %s".
-          format(mailboxFQN, cause.toString))
+          format(mailboxFQN, exception.toString))
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala
index b047af5888..0ce9e9adfb 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ package akka.routing
 
 import akka.actor._
 import akka.japi.Creator
-import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
 import akka.config.ConfigurationException
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger
 import akka.util.{ ReflectiveAccess, Timeout }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ReflectiveAccess.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ReflectiveAccess.scala
index 065e11ba78..0e738541ae 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ReflectiveAccess.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ReflectiveAccess.scala
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 package akka.util
 
 import akka.actor._
+import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
 
 object ReflectiveAccess {
 
@@ -14,22 +15,19 @@ object ReflectiveAccess {
 
   def createInstance[T](clazz: Class[_],
                         params: Array[Class[_]],
-                        args: Array[AnyRef]): Either[Exception, T] = try {
+                        args: Array[AnyRef]): Either[Exception, T] = withErrorHandling {
     assert(clazz ne null)
     assert(params ne null)
     assert(args ne null)
     val ctor = clazz.getDeclaredConstructor(params: _*)
     ctor.setAccessible(true)
     Right(ctor.newInstance(args: _*).asInstanceOf[T])
-  } catch {
-    case e: Exception ⇒
-      Left(e)
   }
 
   def createInstance[T](fqn: String,
                         params: Array[Class[_]],
                         args: Array[AnyRef],
-                        classloader: ClassLoader = loader): Either[Exception, T] = try {
+                        classloader: ClassLoader = loader): Either[Exception, T] = withErrorHandling {
     assert(params ne null)
     assert(args ne null)
     getClassFor(fqn, classloader) match {
@@ -39,9 +37,6 @@ object ReflectiveAccess {
         Right(ctor.newInstance(args: _*).asInstanceOf[T])
       case Left(exception) ⇒ Left(exception) //We could just cast this to Either[Exception, T] but it's ugly
     }
-  } catch {
-    case e: Exception ⇒
-      Left(e)
   }
 
   //Obtains a reference to fqn.MODULE$
@@ -100,5 +95,23 @@ object ReflectiveAccess {
     case e: Exception ⇒ Left(e)
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Caught exception is returned as Left(exception).
+   * Unwraps `InvocationTargetException` if its getTargetException is an `Exception`.
+   * Other `Throwable`, such as `Error` is thrown.
+   */
+  private def withErrorHandling[T](body: ⇒ Either[Exception, T]): Either[Exception, T] = {
+    try {
+      body
+    } catch {
+      case e: InvocationTargetException ⇒ e.getTargetException match {
+        case t: Exception ⇒ Left(t)
+        case t            ⇒ throw t
+      }
+      case e: Exception ⇒
+        Left(e)
+    }
+  }
+
 }
 
diff --git a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mailboxes-common/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/DurableMailbox.scala b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mailboxes-common/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/DurableMailbox.scala
index f94dfe83ca..c8f9026cbf 100644
--- a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mailboxes-common/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/DurableMailbox.scala
+++ b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mailboxes-common/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/DurableMailbox.scala
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 package akka.actor.mailbox
 
 import akka.util.ReflectiveAccess
-import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
 import akka.AkkaException
 import akka.actor.ActorContext
 import akka.actor.ActorRef