diff --git a/mistral/actions/std_actions.py b/mistral/actions/std_actions.py
index 55af6666..ba60655d 100644
--- a/mistral/actions/std_actions.py
+++ b/mistral/actions/std_actions.py
@@ -15,18 +15,19 @@
 #    See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 #    limitations under the License.
 
+from email.header import Header
 from email.mime import text
+
 import json
 import requests
 import smtplib
 
-from oslo_log import log as logging
-
 from mistral.actions import base
 from mistral import exceptions as exc
 from mistral.utils import javascript
 from mistral.utils import ssh_utils
 from mistral.workflow import utils as wf_utils
+from oslo_log import log as logging
 
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -286,9 +287,8 @@ class SendEmailAction(base.Action):
                  (self.sender, self.to, self.subject,
                   self.smtp_server, self.body[:128]))
 
-        # TODO(dzimine): handle utf-8, http://stackoverflow.com/a/14506784
-        message = text.MIMEText(self.body)
-        message['Subject'] = self.subject
+        message = text.MIMEText(self.body, _charset='utf-8')
+        message['Subject'] = Header(self.subject, 'utf-8')
         message['From'] = self.sender
         message['To'] = self.to
 
diff --git a/mistral/tests/unit/actions/test_std_email_action.py b/mistral/tests/unit/actions/test_std_email_action.py
index 9f1554a6..ca1a1854 100644
--- a/mistral/tests/unit/actions/test_std_email_action.py
+++ b/mistral/tests/unit/actions/test_std_email_action.py
@@ -14,8 +14,11 @@
 #    See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 #    limitations under the License.
 
+import base64
+from email.header import decode_header
 from email import parser
 import mock
+import six
 import testtools
 
 from mistral.actions import std_actions as std
@@ -103,8 +106,26 @@ class SendEmailActionTest(base.BaseTest):
 
         self.assertEqual(self.from_addr, message['from'])
         self.assertEqual(self.to_addrs_str, message['to'])
-        self.assertEqual(self.subject, message['subject'])
-        self.assertEqual(self.body, message.get_payload())
+        if six.PY3:
+            self.assertEqual(
+                self.subject,
+                decode_header(message['subject'])[0][0].decode('utf-8')
+            )
+        else:
+            self.assertEqual(
+                self.subject.decode('utf-8'),
+                decode_header(message['subject'])[0][0].decode('utf-8')
+            )
+        if six.PY3:
+            self.assertEqual(
+                self.body,
+                base64.b64decode(message.get_payload()).decode('utf-8')
+            )
+        else:
+            self.assertEqual(
+                self.body.decode('utf-8'),
+                base64.b64decode(message.get_payload()).decode('utf-8')
+            )
 
     @mock.patch('smtplib.SMTP')
     def test_with_password(self, smtp):