diff --git a/packages/react-native/Libraries/ReactNative/UIManager.js b/packages/react-native/Libraries/ReactNative/UIManager.js
index e830b96971891a..98360a14bb23c5 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/Libraries/ReactNative/UIManager.js
+++ b/packages/react-native/Libraries/ReactNative/UIManager.js
@@ -180,6 +180,14 @@ const UIManager = {
     commandName: number | string,
     commandArgs: any[],
   ) {
+    // Sometimes, libraries directly pass in the output of `findNodeHandle` to
+    // this function without checking if it's null. This guards against that
+    // case. We throw early here in Javascript so we can get a JS stacktrace
+    // instead of a harder-to-debug native Java or Objective-C stacktrace.
+    if (typeof reactTag !== 'number') {
+      throw new Error('dispatchViewManagerCommand: found null reactTag');
+    }
+
     if (isFabricReactTag(reactTag)) {
       const FabricUIManager = nullthrows(getFabricUIManager());
       const shadowNode =
diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/JavaMethodWrapper.java b/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/JavaMethodWrapper.java
index 8a2ef7bb9fb6d2..d6fb0238caaa06 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/JavaMethodWrapper.java
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/bridge/JavaMethodWrapper.java
@@ -356,7 +356,7 @@ public void invoke(JSInstance jsInstance, ReadableArray parameters) {
               mArgumentExtractors[i].extractArgument(jsInstance, parameters, jsArgumentsConsumed);
           jsArgumentsConsumed += mArgumentExtractors[i].getJSArgumentsNeeded();
         }
-      } catch (UnexpectedNativeTypeException e) {
+      } catch (UnexpectedNativeTypeException | NullPointerException e) {
         throw new NativeArgumentsParseException(
             e.getMessage()
                 + " (constructing arguments for "
@@ -370,23 +370,29 @@ public void invoke(JSInstance jsInstance, ReadableArray parameters) {
 
       try {
         mMethod.invoke(mModuleWrapper.getModule(), mArguments);
-      } catch (IllegalArgumentException ie) {
-        throw new RuntimeException("Could not invoke " + traceName, ie);
-      } catch (IllegalAccessException iae) {
-        throw new RuntimeException("Could not invoke " + traceName, iae);
+      } catch (IllegalArgumentException | IllegalAccessException e) {
+        throw new RuntimeException(createInvokeExceptionMessage(traceName), e);
       } catch (InvocationTargetException ite) {
         // Exceptions thrown from native module calls end up wrapped in InvocationTargetException
         // which just make traces harder to read and bump out useful information
         if (ite.getCause() instanceof RuntimeException) {
           throw (RuntimeException) ite.getCause();
         }
-        throw new RuntimeException("Could not invoke " + traceName, ite);
+        throw new RuntimeException(createInvokeExceptionMessage(traceName), ite);
       }
     } finally {
       SystraceMessage.endSection(TRACE_TAG_REACT_JAVA_BRIDGE).flush();
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Makes it easier to determine the cause of an error invoking a native method from Javascript
+   * code by adding the function name.
+   */
+  private static String createInvokeExceptionMessage(String traceName) {
+    return "Could not invoke " + traceName;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Determines how the method is exported in JavaScript: METHOD_TYPE_ASYNC for regular methods
    * METHOD_TYPE_PROMISE for methods that return a promise object to the caller. METHOD_TYPE_SYNC