diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/BackoffSupervisor.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/BackoffSupervisor.scala
index 90b17ea725b..97ff8172d18 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/BackoffSupervisor.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/BackoffSupervisor.scala
@@ -61,6 +61,26 @@ object BackoffSupervisor {
 
   private case object StartChild extends DeadLetterSuppression
   private case class ResetRestartCount(current: Int) extends DeadLetterSuppression
+
+  /**
+   * INTERNAL API
+   *
+   * Calculates an exponential back off delay.
+   */
+  private[akka] def calculateDelay(
+    restartCount: Int,
+    minBackoff: FiniteDuration,
+    maxBackoff: FiniteDuration,
+    randomFactor: Double): FiniteDuration = {
+    val rnd = 1.0 + ThreadLocalRandom.current().nextDouble() * randomFactor
+    if (restartCount >= 30) // Duration overflow protection (> 100 years)
+      maxBackoff
+    else
+      maxBackoff.min(minBackoff * math.pow(2, restartCount)) * rnd match {
+        case f: FiniteDuration ⇒ f
+        case _                 ⇒ maxBackoff
+      }
+  }
 }
 
 /**
@@ -121,15 +141,7 @@ final class BackoffSupervisor(
   def receive = {
     case Terminated(ref) if child.contains(ref) ⇒
       child = None
-      val rnd = 1.0 + ThreadLocalRandom.current().nextDouble() * randomFactor
-      val restartDelay =
-        if (restartCount >= 30) // Duration overflow protection (> 100 years)
-          maxBackoff
-        else
-          maxBackoff.min(minBackoff * math.pow(2, restartCount)) * rnd match {
-            case f: FiniteDuration ⇒ f
-            case _                 ⇒ maxBackoff
-          }
+      val restartDelay = calculateDelay(restartCount, minBackoff, maxBackoff, randomFactor)
       context.system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(restartDelay, self, StartChild)
       restartCount += 1
 
diff --git a/akka-contrib/src/main/scala/akka/contrib/pattern/TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisor.scala b/akka-contrib/src/main/scala/akka/contrib/pattern/TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisor.scala
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..067b0acf2ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-contrib/src/main/scala/akka/contrib/pattern/TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisor.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,202 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2015 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ */
+
+package akka.contrib.pattern
+
+import akka.actor._
+import akka.actor.OneForOneStrategy
+import akka.actor.SupervisorStrategy._
+import scala.concurrent.duration._
+
+object TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisor {
+  private case class ScheduleRestart(childRef: ActorRef) extends DeadLetterSuppression
+  private case object StartChild extends DeadLetterSuppression
+  private case class ResetRestartCount(lastNumRestarts: Int) extends DeadLetterSuppression
+
+  /**
+   * Props for creating a [[TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisor]] with a decider.
+   *
+   * @param childProps the [[akka.actor.Props]] of the child to be supervised.
+   * @param childName the name of the child actor.
+   * @param minBackoff the min time before the child is restarted.
+   * @param maxBackoff the max time (upperbound) for a child restart.
+   * @param randomFactor a random delay factor to add on top of the calculated exponential
+   *   back off.
+   *   The calculation is equivalent to:
+   *   {{{
+   *     final_delay = min(
+   *       maxBackoff,
+   *       (random_delay_factor * calculated_backoff) + calculated_backoff)
+   *   }}}
+   * @param decider an [[akka.actor.SupervisorStrategy.Decider]] to specify how the supervisor
+   *   should behave for different exceptions. If no cases are matched, the default decider of
+   *   [[akka.actor.Actor]] is used. When the [[akka.actor.SupervisorStrategy.Restart]] directive
+   *   is returned by the decider, this supervisor will apply an exponential back off restart.
+   */
+  def propsWithDecider(
+    childProps: Props,
+    childName: String,
+    minBackoff: FiniteDuration,
+    maxBackoff: FiniteDuration,
+    randomFactor: Double)(decider: Decider): Props = {
+    Props(
+      new TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisor(
+        childProps,
+        childName,
+        Some(decider),
+        minBackoff,
+        maxBackoff,
+        randomFactor))
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Props for creating a [[TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisor]] using the
+   * default [[akka.actor.Actor]] decider.
+   *
+   * @param childProps the [[akka.actor.Props]] of the child to be supervised.
+   * @param childName the name of the child actor.
+   * @param minBackoff the min time before the child is restarted.
+   * @param maxBackoff the max time (upperbound) for a child restart.
+   * @param randomFactor a random delay factor to add on top of the calculated exponential
+   *   back off.
+   *   The calculation is equivalent to:
+   *   {{{
+   *     final_delay = min(
+   *       maxBackoff,
+   *       (random_delay_factor * calculated_backoff) + calculated_backoff)
+   *   }}}
+   */
+  def props(
+    childProps: Props,
+    childName: String,
+    minBackoff: FiniteDuration,
+    maxBackoff: FiniteDuration,
+    randomFactor: Double): Props = {
+    Props(
+      new TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisor(
+        childProps,
+        childName,
+        None,
+        minBackoff,
+        maxBackoff,
+        randomFactor))
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * A supervising actor that restarts a child actor with an exponential back off.
+ *
+ * This explicit supervisor behaves similarly to the normal implicit supervision where
+ * if an actor throws an exception, the decider on the supervisor will decide when to
+ * `Stop`, `Restart`, `Escalate`, `Resume` the child actor.
+ *
+ * When the `Restart` directive is specified, the supervisor will delay the restart
+ * using an exponential back off strategy (bounded by minBackoff and maxBackoff).
+ *
+ * This supervisor is intended to be transparent to both the child actor and external actors.
+ * Where external actors can send messages to the supervisor as if it was the child and the
+ * messages will be forwarded. And when the child is `Terminated`, the supervisor is also
+ * `Terminated`.
+ * Transparent to the child means that the child does not have to be aware that it is being
+ * supervised specifically by the [[TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisor]]. Just like it does
+ * not need to know when it is being supervised by the usual implicit supervisors.
+ * The only caveat is that the `ActorRef` of the child is not stable, so any user storing the
+ * `sender()` `ActorRef` from the child response may eventually not be able to communicate with
+ * the stored `ActorRef`. In general all messages to the child should be directed through the
+ * [[TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisor]].
+ *
+ * An example of where this supervisor might be used is when you may have an actor that is
+ * responsible for continuously polling on a server for some resource that sometimes may be down.
+ * Instead of hammering the server continuously when the resource is unavailable, the actor will
+ * be restarted with an exponentially increasing back off until the resource is available again.
+ *
+ * '''***
+ * This supervisor should not be used with `Akka Persistence` child actors.
+ * `Akka Persistence` actors, currently, shutdown unconditionally on `persistFailure()`s rather
+ * than throw an exception on a failure like normal actors.
+ * [[akka.pattern.BackoffSupervisor]] should be used instead for cases where the child actor
+ * terminates itself as a failure signal instead of the normal behavior of throwing an exception.
+ * ***'''
+ */
+class TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisor(
+  props: Props,
+  childName: String,
+  decider: Option[Decider],
+  minBackoff: FiniteDuration,
+  maxBackoff: FiniteDuration,
+  randomFactor: Double)
+  extends Actor
+  with Stash
+  with ActorLogging {
+
+  import TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisor._
+  import context._
+
+  override val supervisorStrategy = OneForOneStrategy() {
+    case ex ⇒
+      val defaultDirective: Directive =
+        super.supervisorStrategy.decider.applyOrElse(ex, (_: Any) ⇒ Escalate)
+      val maybeDirective: Option[Directive] = decider
+        .map(_.applyOrElse(ex, (_: Any) ⇒ defaultDirective))
+
+      // Get the directive from the specified decider or fallback to
+      // the default decider.
+      // Whatever the final Directive is, we will translate all Restarts
+      // to our own Restarts, which involves stopping the child.
+      maybeDirective.getOrElse(defaultDirective) match {
+        case Restart ⇒
+          val childRef = sender
+          become({
+            case Terminated(`childRef`) ⇒
+              unbecome()
+              self ! ScheduleRestart(childRef)
+            case _ ⇒
+              stash()
+          }, discardOld = false)
+          Stop
+        case other ⇒ other
+      }
+  }
+
+  // Initialize by starting up and watching the child
+  self ! StartChild
+
+  def receive = waitingToStart(-1, false)
+
+  def waitingToStart(numRestarts: Int, scheduleCounterReset: Boolean): Receive = {
+    case StartChild ⇒
+      val childRef = actorOf(props, childName)
+      watch(childRef)
+      unstashAll()
+      if (scheduleCounterReset) {
+        system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(minBackoff, self, ResetRestartCount(numRestarts + 1))
+      }
+      become(watching(childRef, numRestarts + 1))
+    case _ ⇒ stash()
+  }
+
+  // Steady state
+  def watching(childRef: ActorRef, numRestarts: Int): Receive = {
+    case ScheduleRestart(`childRef`) ⇒
+      val delay = akka.pattern.BackoffSupervisor.calculateDelay(
+        numRestarts, minBackoff, maxBackoff, randomFactor)
+      system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(delay, self, StartChild)
+      become(waitingToStart(numRestarts, true))
+      log.info(s"Restarting child in: $delay; numRestarts: $numRestarts")
+    case ResetRestartCount(last) ⇒
+      if (last == numRestarts) {
+        log.debug(s"Last restart count [$last] matches current count; resetting")
+        become(watching(childRef, 0))
+      } else {
+        log.debug(s"Last restart count [$last] does not match the current count [$numRestarts]")
+      }
+    case Terminated(`childRef`) ⇒
+      log.debug(s"Terminating, because child [$childRef] terminated itself")
+      stop(self)
+    case msg if sender() == childRef ⇒
+      parent.forward(msg)
+    case msg ⇒
+      childRef.forward(msg)
+  }
+}
diff --git a/akka-contrib/src/test/scala/akka/contrib/pattern/TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisorSpec.scala b/akka-contrib/src/test/scala/akka/contrib/pattern/TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisorSpec.scala
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..07441cb66fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-contrib/src/test/scala/akka/contrib/pattern/TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisorSpec.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2015 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ */
+
+package akka.contrib.pattern
+
+import akka.testkit.AkkaSpec
+import akka.testkit.TestProbe
+import scala.concurrent.Future
+import scala.concurrent.duration._
+import akka.actor._
+import scala.language.postfixOps
+
+object TestActor {
+  class StoppingException extends Exception("stopping exception")
+  def props(probe: ActorRef): Props = Props(new TestActor(probe))
+}
+
+class TestActor(probe: ActorRef) extends Actor {
+  import context.dispatcher
+
+  probe ! "STARTED"
+
+  def receive = {
+    case "DIE"                      ⇒ context.stop(self)
+    case "THROW"                    ⇒ throw new Exception("normal exception")
+    case "THROW_STOPPING_EXCEPTION" ⇒ throw new TestActor.StoppingException
+    case ("TO_PARENT", msg)         ⇒ context.parent ! msg
+    case other                      ⇒ probe ! other
+  }
+}
+
+object TestParentActor {
+  def props(probe: ActorRef, supervisorProps: Props): Props =
+    Props(new TestParentActor(probe, supervisorProps))
+}
+class TestParentActor(probe: ActorRef, supervisorProps: Props) extends Actor {
+  val supervisor = context.actorOf(supervisorProps)
+
+  def receive = {
+    case other ⇒ probe.forward(other)
+  }
+}
+
+class TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisorSpec extends AkkaSpec {
+
+  def supervisorProps(probeRef: ActorRef) = TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisor.propsWithDecider(
+    TestActor.props(probeRef),
+    "someChildName",
+    200 millis,
+    10 seconds,
+    0.0) {
+      case _: TestActor.StoppingException ⇒ SupervisorStrategy.Stop
+    }
+
+  trait Setup {
+    val probe = TestProbe()
+    val supervisor = system.actorOf(supervisorProps(probe.ref))
+    probe.expectMsg("STARTED")
+  }
+
+  trait Setup2 {
+    val probe = TestProbe()
+    val parent = system.actorOf(TestParentActor.props(probe.ref, supervisorProps(probe.ref)))
+    probe.expectMsg("STARTED")
+    val child = probe.lastSender
+  }
+
+  "TransparentExponentialBackoffSupervisor" must {
+    "forward messages to child" in new Setup {
+      supervisor ! "some message"
+      probe.expectMsg("some message")
+    }
+
+    "terminate when child terminates" in new Setup {
+      probe.watch(supervisor)
+      supervisor ! "DIE"
+      probe.expectTerminated(supervisor)
+    }
+
+    "restart the child with an exponential back off" in new Setup {
+      // Exponential back off restart test
+      probe.within(1.4 seconds, 2 seconds) {
+        supervisor ! "THROW"
+        // numRestart = 0 ~ 200 millis
+        probe.expectMsg(300 millis, "STARTED")
+
+        supervisor ! "THROW"
+        // numRestart = 1 ~ 400 millis
+        probe.expectMsg(500 millis, "STARTED")
+
+        supervisor ! "THROW"
+        // numRestart = 2 ~ 800 millis
+        probe.expectMsg(900 millis, "STARTED")
+      }
+
+      // Verify that we only have one child at this point by selecting all the children
+      // under the supervisor and broadcasting to them.
+      // If there exists more than one child, we will get more than one reply.
+      val supervisorChildSelection = system.actorSelection(supervisor.path / "*")
+      supervisorChildSelection.tell("testmsg", probe.ref)
+      probe.expectMsg("testmsg")
+      probe.expectNoMsg
+    }
+
+    "stop on exceptions as dictated by the decider" in new Setup {
+      probe.watch(supervisor)
+      // This should cause the supervisor to stop the child actor and then
+      // subsequently stop itself.
+      supervisor ! "THROW_STOPPING_EXCEPTION"
+      probe.expectTerminated(supervisor)
+    }
+
+    "forward messages from the child to the parent of the supervisor" in new Setup2 {
+      child ! (("TO_PARENT", "TEST_MESSAGE"))
+      probe.expectMsg("TEST_MESSAGE")
+    }
+  }
+}