diff --git a/src/dev-app/dialog/dialog-demo.ts b/src/dev-app/dialog/dialog-demo.ts
index 5223f841c918..7a28213edfad 100644
--- a/src/dev-app/dialog/dialog-demo.ts
+++ b/src/dev-app/dialog/dialog-demo.ts
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ export class DialogDemo {
   dialogRef: MatDialogRef<JazzDialog> | null;
   lastAfterClosedResult: string;
   lastBeforeCloseResult: string;
-  actionsAlignment: string;
+  actionsAlignment: 'end' | 'center' | undefined;
   config = {
     disableClose: false,
     panelClass: 'custom-overlay-pane-class',
@@ -110,20 +110,20 @@ export class JazzDialog {
   private _dimesionToggle = false;
 
   constructor(
-    public dialogRef: MatDialogRef<JazzDialog>,
-    @Inject(MAT_DIALOG_DATA) public data: any) { }
+      public dialogRef: MatDialogRef<JazzDialog>,
+      @Inject(MAT_DIALOG_DATA) public data: any) { }
 
   togglePosition(): void {
     this._dimesionToggle = !this._dimesionToggle;
 
     if (this._dimesionToggle) {
       this.dialogRef
-        .updateSize('500px', '500px')
-        .updatePosition({ top: '25px', left: '25px' });
+      .updateSize('500px', '500px')
+      .updatePosition({ top: '25px', left: '25px' });
     } else {
       this.dialogRef
-        .updateSize()
-        .updatePosition();
+      .updateSize()
+      .updatePosition();
     }
   }
 
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ export class JazzDialog {
       </p>
     </mat-dialog-content>
 
-    <mat-dialog-actions [attr.align]="actionsAlignment">
+    <mat-dialog-actions [align]="actionsAlignment">
       <button
         mat-raised-button
         color="primary"
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ export class JazzDialog {
   `
 })
 export class ContentElementDialog {
-  actionsAlignment: string;
+  actionsAlignment: 'end' | 'center' | undefined;
 
   constructor(public dialog: MatDialog) { }
 
diff --git a/src/material/dialog/dialog-content-directives.ts b/src/material/dialog/dialog-content-directives.ts
index 73121c0cc08e..a4ab16b3d9ee 100644
--- a/src/material/dialog/dialog-content-directives.ts
+++ b/src/material/dialog/dialog-content-directives.ts
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ export class MatDialogClose implements OnInit, OnChanges {
     // dialog, and therefore clicking the button won't result in a focus change. This means that
     // the FocusMonitor won't detect any origin change, and will always output `program`.
     _closeDialogVia(this.dialogRef,
-        event.screenX === 0 && event.screenY === 0 ? 'keyboard' : 'mouse', this.dialogResult);
+      event.screenX === 0 && event.screenY === 0 ? 'keyboard' : 'mouse', this.dialogResult);
   }
 }
 
@@ -96,11 +96,11 @@ export class MatDialogTitle implements OnInit {
   @Input() id: string = `mat-dialog-title-${dialogElementUid++}`;
 
   constructor(
-      // The dialog title directive is always used in combination with a `MatDialogRef`.
-      // tslint:disable-next-line: lightweight-tokens
-      @Optional() private _dialogRef: MatDialogRef<any>,
-      private _elementRef: ElementRef<HTMLElement>,
-      private _dialog: MatDialog) {}
+    // The dialog title directive is always used in combination with a `MatDialogRef`.
+    // tslint:disable-next-line: lightweight-tokens
+    @Optional() private _dialogRef: MatDialogRef<any>,
+    private _elementRef: ElementRef<HTMLElement>,
+    private _dialog: MatDialog) {}
 
   ngOnInit() {
     if (!this._dialogRef) {
@@ -136,9 +136,15 @@ export class MatDialogContent {}
  */
 @Directive({
   selector: `[mat-dialog-actions], mat-dialog-actions, [matDialogActions]`,
-  host: {'class': 'mat-dialog-actions'}
+  host: {
+    'class': 'mat-dialog-actions',
+    '[class.mat-dialog-actions-align-center]': 'align === "center"',
+    '[class.mat-dialog-actions-align-end]': 'align === "end"'
+  }
 })
-export class MatDialogActions {}
+export class MatDialogActions {
+  @Input() align?: 'center' | 'end' = undefined;
+}
 
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/material/dialog/dialog.scss b/src/material/dialog/dialog.scss
index a7db73658d5e..473abc4b1e65 100644
--- a/src/material/dialog/dialog.scss
+++ b/src/material/dialog/dialog.scss
@@ -57,13 +57,14 @@ $mat-dialog-button-margin: 8px !default;
   // Pull the actions down to avoid their padding stacking with the dialog's padding.
   margin-bottom: -$mat-dialog-padding;
 
-  &[align='end'] {
-    justify-content: flex-end;
-  }
-
-  &[align='center'] {
+  // .align-center and .align-end are set by directive input "align"
+  // [align='center'] and [align='right'] are kept for backwards compability
+  &.mat-dialog-actions-align-center, &[align='center'] {
     justify-content: center;
   }
+  &.mat-dialog-actions-align-end, &[align='end'] {
+    justify-content: flex-end;
+  }
 
   .mat-button-base + .mat-button-base,
   .mat-mdc-button-base + .mat-mdc-button-base {
diff --git a/src/material/dialog/dialog.spec.ts b/src/material/dialog/dialog.spec.ts
index 8a8a8e6edb26..cd7c1e72a571 100644
--- a/src/material/dialog/dialog.spec.ts
+++ b/src/material/dialog/dialog.spec.ts
@@ -1493,6 +1493,14 @@ describe('MatDialog', () => {
         expect(container.getAttribute('aria-labelledby'))
             .toBe(title.id, 'Expected the aria-labelledby to match the title id.');
       }));
+
+      it('should add align-* class according to given [align] input in [mat-dialog-actions]', () => {
+        let actions =
+          overlayContainerElement.querySelector('mat-dialog-actions')!;
+
+        expect(actions).not.toHaveClass('mat-dialog-actions-align-center', 'Expected action buttons to not have class align-center');
+        expect(actions).toHaveClass('mat-dialog-actions-align-end', 'Expected action buttons to have class align-end');
+      });
     }
   });
 
@@ -1876,7 +1884,7 @@ class PizzaMsg {
   template: `
     <h1 mat-dialog-title>This is the title</h1>
     <mat-dialog-content>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</mat-dialog-content>
-    <mat-dialog-actions>
+    <mat-dialog-actions align="end">
       <button mat-dialog-close>Close</button>
       <button class="close-with-true" [mat-dialog-close]="true">Close and return true</button>
       <button
@@ -1895,7 +1903,7 @@ class ContentElementDialog {}
     <ng-template>
       <h1 mat-dialog-title>This is the title</h1>
       <mat-dialog-content>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.</mat-dialog-content>
-      <mat-dialog-actions>
+      <mat-dialog-actions align="end">
         <button mat-dialog-close>Close</button>
         <button class="close-with-true" [mat-dialog-close]="true">Close and return true</button>
         <button