diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
index a04d6c403ee..a7af7167af0 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
@@ -939,7 +939,7 @@ class AnsibleModule(object):
             # rename might not preserve context
             self.set_context_if_different(dest, context, False)
 
-    def run_command(self, args, check_rc=False, close_fds=False, executable=None, data=None, binary_data=False):
+    def run_command(self, args, check_rc=False, close_fds=False, executable=None, data=None, binary_data=False, path_prefix=None):
         '''
         Execute a command, returns rc, stdout, and stderr.
         args is the command to run
@@ -963,16 +963,33 @@ class AnsibleModule(object):
         rc = 0
         msg = None
         st_in = None
+
+        # Set a temporart env path if a prefix is passed
+        env=os.environ
+        if path_prefix:
+            env['PATH']="%s:%s" % (path_prefix, env['PATH'])
+
         if data:
             st_in = subprocess.PIPE
         try:
-            cmd = subprocess.Popen(args,
-                                   executable=executable,
-                                   shell=shell,
-                                   close_fds=close_fds,
-                                   stdin=st_in,
-                                   stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
-                                   stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+            if path_prefix is not None:
+                cmd = subprocess.Popen(args,
+                                       executable=executable,
+                                       shell=shell,
+                                       close_fds=close_fds,
+                                       stdin=st_in,
+                                       stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                                       stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
+                                       env=env)
+            else:
+                cmd = subprocess.Popen(args,
+                                       executable=executable,
+                                       shell=shell,
+                                       close_fds=close_fds,
+                                       stdin=st_in,
+                                       stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                                       stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+            
             if data:
                 if not binary_data:
                     data += '\\n'
diff --git a/library/packaging/pip b/library/packaging/pip
index 49067dc1196..3b054aa7c47 100644
--- a/library/packaging/pip
+++ b/library/packaging/pip
@@ -275,6 +275,16 @@ def main():
     pip = _get_pip(module, env, module.params['executable'])
 
     cmd = '%s %s' % (pip, state_map[state])
+    
+    # If there's a virtualenv we want things we install to be able to use other
+    # installations that exist as binaries within this virtualenv. Example: we 
+    # install cython and then gevent -- gevent needs to use the cython binary, 
+    # not just a python package that will be found by calling the right python. 
+    # So if there's a virtualenv, we add that bin/ to the beginning of the PATH
+    # in run_command by setting path_prefix here.
+    path_prefix = None
+    if env:
+        path_prefix="/".join(pip.split('/')[:-1])
 
     if extra_args:
         cmd += ' %s' % extra_args
@@ -320,7 +330,7 @@ def main():
     os.chdir(tempfile.gettempdir())
     if chdir:
         os.chdir(chdir)
-    rc, out_pip, err_pip = module.run_command(cmd)
+    rc, out_pip, err_pip = module.run_command(cmd, path_prefix=path_prefix)
     out += out_pip
     err += err_pip
     if rc == 1 and state == 'absent' and 'not installed' in out_pip: