diff --git a/src/Runner.Common/Constants.cs b/src/Runner.Common/Constants.cs
index 1ee60714e..0e756ae55 100644
--- a/src/Runner.Common/Constants.cs
+++ b/src/Runner.Common/Constants.cs
@@ -242,6 +242,7 @@ namespace GitHub.Runner.Common
 
                 // Set this env var to "node12" to downgrade the node version for internal functions (e.g hashfiles). This does NOT affect the version of node actions.
                 public static readonly string ForcedInternalNodeVersion = "ACTIONS_RUNNER_FORCED_INTERNAL_NODE_VERSION"; 
+                public static readonly string ForcedActionsNodeVersion = "ACTIONS_RUNNER_FORCE_ACTIONS_NODE_VERSION"; 
             }
 
             public static class System
diff --git a/src/Runner.Common/Util/NodeUtil.cs b/src/Runner.Common/Util/NodeUtil.cs
index bae94f4b0..8fbf53bdf 100644
--- a/src/Runner.Common/Util/NodeUtil.cs
+++ b/src/Runner.Common/Util/NodeUtil.cs
@@ -15,8 +15,14 @@ namespace GitHub.Runner.Common.Util
 
         public static string GetInternalNodeVersion()
         {
-            var forcedNodeVersion = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable(Constants.Variables.Agent.ForcedInternalNodeVersion);
-            return !string.IsNullOrEmpty(forcedNodeVersion) && BuiltInNodeVersions.Contains(forcedNodeVersion) ? forcedNodeVersion : _defaultNodeVersion;
+            var forcedInternalNodeVersion = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable(Constants.Variables.Agent.ForcedInternalNodeVersion);
+            var isForcedInternalNodeVersion = !string.IsNullOrEmpty(forcedInternalNodeVersion) && BuiltInNodeVersions.Contains(forcedInternalNodeVersion);
+
+            if (isForcedInternalNodeVersion)
+            {
+                return forcedInternalNodeVersion;
+            }
+            return _defaultNodeVersion;
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Runner.Worker/Handlers/NodeScriptActionHandler.cs b/src/Runner.Worker/Handlers/NodeScriptActionHandler.cs
index 6f513c863..0311c4ab8 100644
--- a/src/Runner.Worker/Handlers/NodeScriptActionHandler.cs
+++ b/src/Runner.Worker/Handlers/NodeScriptActionHandler.cs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ using GitHub.DistributedTask.Pipelines.ContextData;
 using GitHub.DistributedTask.WebApi;
 using GitHub.Runner.Common;
 using GitHub.Runner.Sdk;
+using GitHub.Runner.Common.Util;
 using GitHub.Runner.Worker.Container;
 using GitHub.Runner.Worker.Container.ContainerHooks;
 
@@ -104,6 +105,12 @@ namespace GitHub.Runner.Worker.Handlers
                 Data.NodeVersion = "node16";
             }
 #endif
+            string forcedNodeVersion = System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable(Constants.Variables.Agent.ForcedActionsNodeVersion);
+
+            if (forcedNodeVersion == "node16" && Data.NodeVersion != "node16")
+            {
+                Data.NodeVersion = "node16";
+            }
             var nodeRuntimeVersion = await StepHost.DetermineNodeRuntimeVersion(ExecutionContext, Data.NodeVersion);
             string file = Path.Combine(HostContext.GetDirectory(WellKnownDirectory.Externals), nodeRuntimeVersion, "bin", $"node{IOUtil.ExeExtension}");