Listeria, Rickettsia, Burkholderia, Shigella and Mycobacterium species subvert cellular actin dynamics to facilitate their movement within the host cytosol and to infect neighbouring cells while evading host immune surveillance and promoting their intracellular survival. 'Attaching and effacing' Escherichia coli do not enter host cells but attach intimately to the cell surface, inducing motile actin-rich pedestals, the function of which is currently unclear. The molecular basis of actin-based motility of these bacterial pathogens reveals novel insights about bacterial pathogenesis and fundamental host-cell pathways.