diff --git a/tractor/_supervise.py b/tractor/_supervise.py
index 3f381ef..ea0ecfa 100644
--- a/tractor/_supervise.py
+++ b/tractor/_supervise.py
@@ -11,9 +11,8 @@ import warnings
 import trio
 from async_generator import asynccontextmanager
 
-from . import _debug
 from ._debug import maybe_wait_for_debugger
-from ._state import current_actor, is_main_process, is_root_process
+from ._state import current_actor, is_main_process
 from .log import get_logger, get_loglevel
 from ._actor import Actor
 from ._portal import Portal
@@ -63,6 +62,7 @@ class ActorNursery:
         enable_modules: List[str] = None,
         loglevel: str = None,  # set log level per subactor
         nursery: trio.Nursery = None,
+        debug_mode: Optional[bool] = None,
     ) -> Portal:
         loglevel = loglevel or self._actor.loglevel or get_loglevel()
 
@@ -70,6 +70,10 @@ class ActorNursery:
         _rtv = _state._runtime_vars.copy()
         _rtv['_is_root'] = False
 
+        # allow setting debug policy per actor
+        if debug_mode is not None:
+            _rtv['_debug_mode'] = debug_mode
+
         enable_modules = enable_modules or []
 
         if rpc_module_paths: