diff --git a/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php b/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php
index d16f8b5ca6..9c7aefe2c6 100644
--- a/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php
+++ b/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php
@@ -317,6 +317,19 @@ public static function shuffleString($string = '', $encoding = 'UTF-8')
         return join('', static::shuffleArray($array));
     }
 
+    private static function replaceWildcard($string, $wildcard = '#', $callback = 'static::randomDigit')
+    {
+        if (($pos = strpos($string, $wildcard)) === false) {
+            return $string;
+        }
+        for ($i = $pos, $last = strrpos($string, $wildcard, $pos) + 1; $i < $last; $i++) {
+            if ($string[$i] === $wildcard) {
+                $string[$i] = call_user_func($callback);
+            }
+        }
+        return $string;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Replaces all hash sign ('#') occurrences with a random number
      * Replaces all percentage sign ('%') occurrences with a not null number
@@ -329,9 +342,11 @@ public static function numerify($string = '###')
         // instead of using randomDigit() several times, which is slow,
         // count the number of hashes and generate once a large number
         $toReplace = array();
-        for ($i = 0, $count = strlen($string); $i < $count; $i++) {
-            if ($string[$i] === '#') {
-                $toReplace []= $i;
+        if (($pos = strpos($string, '#')) !== false) {
+            for ($i = $pos, $last = strrpos($string, '#', $pos) + 1; $i < $last; $i++) {
+                if ($string[$i] === '#') {
+                    $toReplace[] = $i;
+                }
             }
         }
         if ($nbReplacements = count($toReplace)) {
@@ -347,7 +362,7 @@ public static function numerify($string = '###')
                 $string[$toReplace[$i]] = $numbers[$i];
             }
         }
-        $string = preg_replace_callback('/\%/u', 'static::randomDigitNotNull', $string);
+        $string = self::replaceWildcard($string, '%', 'static::randomDigitNotNull');
 
         return $string;
     }
@@ -360,17 +375,21 @@ public static function numerify($string = '###')
      */
     public static function lexify($string = '????')
     {
-        return preg_replace_callback('/\?/u', 'static::randomLetter', $string);
+        return self::replaceWildcard($string, '?', 'static::randomLetter');
     }
 
     /**
-     * Replaces hash signs and question marks with random numbers and letters
+     * Replaces hash signs ('#') and question marks ('?') with random numbers and letters
+     * An asterisk ('*') is replaced with either a random number or a random letter
      *
      * @param  string $string String that needs to bet parsed
      * @return string
      */
     public static function bothify($string = '## ??')
     {
+        $string = self::replaceWildcard($string, '*', function () {
+            return mt_rand(0, 1) ? '#' : '?';
+        });
         return static::lexify(static::numerify($string));
     }
 
diff --git a/test/Faker/Provider/BaseTest.php b/test/Faker/Provider/BaseTest.php
index a426dc62d7..4af392965c 100644
--- a/test/Faker/Provider/BaseTest.php
+++ b/test/Faker/Provider/BaseTest.php
@@ -276,6 +276,17 @@ public function testBothifyCombinesNumerifyAndLexify()
         $this->assertRegExp('/foo[a-z]Ba\dr/', BaseProvider::bothify('foo?Ba#r'));
     }
 
+    public function testBothifyAsterisk()
+    {
+        $this->assertRegExp('/foo([a-z]|\d)Ba([a-z]|\d)r/', BaseProvider::bothify('foo*Ba*r'));
+    }
+
+    public function testBothifyUtf()
+    {
+        $utf = 'œ∑´®†¥¨ˆøπ“‘和製╯°□°╯︵ ┻━┻🐵 🙈 ﺚﻣ ﻦﻔﺳ ﺲﻘﻄﺗ ﻮﺑﺎﻠﺘﺣﺪﻳﺩ،, ﺝﺰﻳﺮﺘﻳ ﺏﺎﺴﺘﺧﺩﺎﻣ ﺄﻧ ﺪﻧﻭ. ﺇﺫ ﻪﻧﺍ؟ ﺎﻠﺴﺗﺍﺭ ﻮﺘ';
+        $this->assertRegExp('/'.$utf.'foo\dB[a-z]a([a-z]|\d)r/u', BaseProvider::bothify($utf.'foo#B?a*r'));
+    }
+
     public function testAsciifyReturnsSameStringWhenItContainsNoStarSign()
     {
         $this->assertEquals('fooBar?', BaseProvider::asciify('fooBar?'));