diff --git a/docs/api-guide/viewsets.md b/docs/api-guide/viewsets.md
index a8fc6afef..04ce7357d 100644
--- a/docs/api-guide/viewsets.md
+++ b/docs/api-guide/viewsets.md
@@ -159,6 +159,21 @@ These decorators will route `GET` requests by default, but may also accept other
 
 The two new actions will then be available at the urls `^users/{pk}/set_password/$` and `^users/{pk}/unset_password/$`
 
+## Reversing action URLs
+
+If you need to get the URL of an action, use the `.reverse_action()` method. This is a convenience wrapper for `reverse()`, automatically passing the view's `request` object and prepending the `url_name` with the `.basename` attribute.
+
+Note that the `basename` is provided by the router during `ViewSet` registration. If you are not using a router, then you must provide the `basename` argument to the `.as_view()` method.
+
+Using the example from the previous section:
+
+```python
+>>> view.reverse_action('set-password', args=['1'])
+'http://localhost:8000/api/users/1/set_password'
+```
+
+The `url_name` argument should match the same argument to the `@list_route` and `@detail_route` decorators. Additionally, this can be used to reverse the default `list` and `detail` routes.
+
 ---
 
 # API Reference
diff --git a/rest_framework/viewsets.py b/rest_framework/viewsets.py
index cf5f35af6..4ee7cdaf8 100644
--- a/rest_framework/viewsets.py
+++ b/rest_framework/viewsets.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ from django.utils.decorators import classonlymethod
 from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt
 
 from rest_framework import generics, mixins, views
+from rest_framework.reverse import reverse
 
 
 class ViewSetMixin(object):
@@ -125,6 +126,15 @@ class ViewSetMixin(object):
             self.action = self.action_map.get(method)
         return request
 
+    def reverse_action(self, url_name, *args, **kwargs):
+        """
+        Reverse the action for the given `url_name`.
+        """
+        url_name = '%s-%s' % (self.basename, url_name)
+        kwargs.setdefault('request', self.request)
+
+        return reverse(url_name, *args, **kwargs)
+
 
 class ViewSet(ViewSetMixin, views.APIView):
     """
diff --git a/tests/test_viewsets.py b/tests/test_viewsets.py
index 846a36807..beff42cb8 100644
--- a/tests/test_viewsets.py
+++ b/tests/test_viewsets.py
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
-from django.test import TestCase
+from django.conf.urls import include, url
+from django.db import models
+from django.test import TestCase, override_settings
 
 from rest_framework import status
+from rest_framework.decorators import detail_route, list_route
 from rest_framework.response import Response
+from rest_framework.routers import SimpleRouter
 from rest_framework.test import APIRequestFactory
 from rest_framework.viewsets import GenericViewSet
 
@@ -22,6 +26,46 @@ class InstanceViewSet(GenericViewSet):
         return Response({'view': self})
 
 
+class Action(models.Model):
+    pass
+
+
+class ActionViewSet(GenericViewSet):
+    queryset = Action.objects.all()
+
+    def list(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
+        pass
+
+    def retrieve(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
+        pass
+
+    @list_route()
+    def list_action(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
+        pass
+
+    @list_route(url_name='list-custom')
+    def custom_list_action(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
+        pass
+
+    @detail_route()
+    def detail_action(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
+        pass
+
+    @detail_route(url_name='detail-custom')
+    def custom_detail_action(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
+        pass
+
+
+router = SimpleRouter()
+router.register(r'actions', ActionViewSet)
+router.register(r'actions-alt', ActionViewSet, base_name='actions-alt')
+
+
+urlpatterns = [
+    url(r'^api/', include(router.urls)),
+]
+
+
 class InitializeViewSetsTestCase(TestCase):
     def test_initialize_view_set_with_actions(self):
         request = factory.get('/', '', content_type='application/json')
@@ -65,3 +109,43 @@ class InitializeViewSetsTestCase(TestCase):
         for attribute in ('args', 'kwargs', 'request', 'action_map'):
             self.assertNotIn(attribute, dir(bare_view))
             self.assertIn(attribute, dir(view))
+
+
+@override_settings(ROOT_URLCONF='tests.test_viewsets')
+class ReverseActionTests(TestCase):
+    def test_default_basename(self):
+        view = ActionViewSet()
+        view.basename = router.get_default_base_name(ActionViewSet)
+        view.request = None
+
+        assert view.reverse_action('list') == '/api/actions/'
+        assert view.reverse_action('list-action') == '/api/actions/list_action/'
+        assert view.reverse_action('list-custom') == '/api/actions/custom_list_action/'
+
+        assert view.reverse_action('detail', args=['1']) == '/api/actions/1/'
+        assert view.reverse_action('detail-action', args=['1']) == '/api/actions/1/detail_action/'
+        assert view.reverse_action('detail-custom', args=['1']) == '/api/actions/1/custom_detail_action/'
+
+    def test_custom_basename(self):
+        view = ActionViewSet()
+        view.basename = 'actions-alt'
+        view.request = None
+
+        assert view.reverse_action('list') == '/api/actions-alt/'
+        assert view.reverse_action('list-action') == '/api/actions-alt/list_action/'
+        assert view.reverse_action('list-custom') == '/api/actions-alt/custom_list_action/'
+
+        assert view.reverse_action('detail', args=['1']) == '/api/actions-alt/1/'
+        assert view.reverse_action('detail-action', args=['1']) == '/api/actions-alt/1/detail_action/'
+        assert view.reverse_action('detail-custom', args=['1']) == '/api/actions-alt/1/custom_detail_action/'
+
+    def test_request_passing(self):
+        view = ActionViewSet()
+        view.basename = router.get_default_base_name(ActionViewSet)
+        view.request = factory.get('/')
+
+        # Passing the view's request object should result in an absolute URL.
+        assert view.reverse_action('list') == 'http://testserver/api/actions/'
+
+        # Users should be able to explicitly not pass the view's request.
+        assert view.reverse_action('list', request=None) == '/api/actions/'