diff --git a/docs/api-guide/exceptions.md b/docs/api-guide/exceptions.md
index 467ad9709..31a8431bc 100644
--- a/docs/api-guide/exceptions.md
+++ b/docs/api-guide/exceptions.md
@@ -51,10 +51,10 @@ In order to alter the style of the response, you could write the following custo
 
     from rest_framework.views import exception_handler
 
-    def custom_exception_handler(exc):
+    def custom_exception_handler(exc, context):
         # Call REST framework's default exception handler first,
         # to get the standard error response.
-        response = exception_handler(exc)
+        response = exception_handler(exc, context)
 
         # Now add the HTTP status code to the response.
         if response is not None:
diff --git a/docs/api-guide/settings.md b/docs/api-guide/settings.md
index 9005511b7..2c4f84237 100644
--- a/docs/api-guide/settings.md
+++ b/docs/api-guide/settings.md
@@ -393,7 +393,7 @@ This setting can be changed to support error responses other than the default `{
 
 This should be a function with the following signature:
 
-    exception_handler(exc)
+    exception_handler(exc, context)
 
 * `exc`: The exception.
 
diff --git a/rest_framework/views.py b/rest_framework/views.py
index bc870417f..b39724c2f 100644
--- a/rest_framework/views.py
+++ b/rest_framework/views.py
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 Provides an APIView class that is the base of all views in REST framework.
 """
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
+import inspect
+import warnings
 
 from django.core.exceptions import PermissionDenied
 from django.http import Http404
@@ -46,7 +48,7 @@ def get_view_description(view_cls, html=False):
     return description
 
 
-def exception_handler(exc):
+def exception_handler(exc, context):
     """
     Returns the response that should be used for any given exception.
 
@@ -184,6 +186,18 @@ class APIView(View):
             'request': getattr(self, 'request', None)
         }
 
+    def get_exception_handler_context(self):
+        """
+        Returns a dict that is passed through to EXCEPTION_HANDLER,
+        as the `context` argument.
+        """
+        return {
+            'view': self,
+            'args': getattr(self, 'args', ()),
+            'kwargs': getattr(self, 'kwargs', {}),
+            'request': getattr(self, 'request', None)
+        }
+
     def get_view_name(self):
         """
         Return the view name, as used in OPTIONS responses and in the
@@ -369,7 +383,18 @@ class APIView(View):
             else:
                 exc.status_code = status.HTTP_403_FORBIDDEN
 
-        response = self.settings.EXCEPTION_HANDLER(exc)
+        exception_handler = self.settings.EXCEPTION_HANDLER
+
+        if len(inspect.getargspec(exception_handler).args) == 1:
+            warnings.warn(
+                'The `exception_handler(exc)` call signature is deprecated. '
+                'Use `exception_handler(exc, context) instead.',
+                PendingDeprecationWarning
+            )
+            response = exception_handler(exc)
+        else:
+            context = self.get_exception_handler_context()
+            response = exception_handler(exc, context)
 
         if response is None:
             raise