diff --git a/superset/dataframe.py b/superset/dataframe.py
index 40e57fcea9..47683b0cc0 100644
--- a/superset/dataframe.py
+++ b/superset/dataframe.py
@@ -62,6 +62,12 @@ def dedup(l, suffix="__", case_sensitive=True):
     return new_l
 
 
+def is_numeric(dtype):
+    if hasattr(dtype, "_is_numeric"):
+        return dtype._is_numeric
+    return np.issubdtype(dtype, np.number)
+
+
 class SupersetDataFrame(object):
     # Mapping numpy dtype.char to generic database types
     type_map = {
@@ -80,21 +86,45 @@ class SupersetDataFrame(object):
     }
 
     def __init__(self, data, cursor_description, db_engine_spec):
-        column_names = []
-        if cursor_description:
-            column_names = [col[0] for col in cursor_description]
-
-        self.column_names = dedup(column_names)
-
         data = data or []
-        self.df = pd.DataFrame(list(data), columns=self.column_names).infer_objects()
+
+        column_names = []
+        dtype = None
+        if cursor_description:
+            # get deduped list of column names
+            column_names = dedup([col[0] for col in cursor_description])
+
+            # fix cursor descriptor with the deduped names
+            cursor_description = [
+                tuple([column_name, *list(description)[1:]])
+                for column_name, description in zip(column_names, cursor_description)
+            ]
+
+            # get type for better type casting, if possible
+            dtype = db_engine_spec.get_pandas_dtype(cursor_description)
+
+        self.column_names = column_names
+
+        if dtype:
+            # convert each column in data into a Series of the proper dtype; we
+            # need to do this because we can not specify a mixed dtype when
+            # instantiating the DataFrame, and this allows us to have different
+            # dtypes for each column.
+            array = np.array(data)
+            data = {
+                column: pd.Series(array[:, i], dtype=dtype[column])
+                for i, column in enumerate(column_names)
+            }
+            self.df = pd.DataFrame(data, columns=column_names)
+        else:
+            self.df = pd.DataFrame(list(data), columns=column_names).infer_objects()
 
         self._type_dict = {}
         try:
             # The driver may not be passing a cursor.description
             self._type_dict = {
                 col: db_engine_spec.get_datatype(cursor_description[i][1])
-                for i, col in enumerate(self.column_names)
+                for i, col in enumerate(column_names)
                 if cursor_description
             }
         except Exception as e:
@@ -183,7 +213,7 @@ class SupersetDataFrame(object):
         if (
             hasattr(dtype, "type")
             and issubclass(dtype.type, np.generic)
-            and np.issubdtype(dtype, np.number)
+            and is_numeric(dtype)
         ):
             return "sum"
         return None
diff --git a/superset/db_engine_specs/base.py b/superset/db_engine_specs/base.py
index d89f07a020..94e9bc5f2e 100644
--- a/superset/db_engine_specs/base.py
+++ b/superset/db_engine_specs/base.py
@@ -275,6 +275,12 @@ class BaseEngineSpec:
             return type_code.upper()
         return None
 
+    @classmethod
+    def get_pandas_dtype(
+        cls, cursor_description: List[tuple]
+    ) -> Optional[Dict[str, str]]:
+        return None
+
     @classmethod
     def extra_table_metadata(
         cls, database, table_name: str, schema_name: str
diff --git a/superset/db_engine_specs/presto.py b/superset/db_engine_specs/presto.py
index 79c7117c79..186557c978 100644
--- a/superset/db_engine_specs/presto.py
+++ b/superset/db_engine_specs/presto.py
@@ -39,6 +39,21 @@ from superset.utils import core as utils
 
 QueryStatus = utils.QueryStatus
 
+# map between Presto types and Pandas
+pandas_dtype_map = {
+    "boolean": "bool",
+    "tinyint": "Int64",  # note: capital "I" means nullable int
+    "smallint": "Int64",
+    "integer": "Int64",
+    "bigint": "Int64",
+    "real": "float64",
+    "double": "float64",
+    "varchar": "object",
+    "timestamp": "datetime64",
+    "date": "datetime64",
+    "varbinary": "object",
+}
+
 
 class PrestoEngineSpec(BaseEngineSpec):
     engine = "presto"
@@ -1052,3 +1067,9 @@ class PrestoEngineSpec(BaseEngineSpec):
         if df.empty:
             return ""
         return df.to_dict()[field_to_return][0]
+
+    @classmethod
+    def get_pandas_dtype(cls, cursor_description: List[tuple]) -> Dict[str, str]:
+        return {
+            col[0]: pandas_dtype_map.get(col[1], "object") for col in cursor_description
+        }
diff --git a/tests/dataframe_test.py b/tests/dataframe_test.py
index 1fb9b807a1..6b421e919c 100644
--- a/tests/dataframe_test.py
+++ b/tests/dataframe_test.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import numpy as np
 
 from superset.dataframe import dedup, SupersetDataFrame
 from superset.db_engine_specs import BaseEngineSpec
+from superset.db_engine_specs.presto import PrestoEngineSpec
 from .base_tests import SupersetTestCase
 
 
@@ -108,3 +109,23 @@ class SupersetDataFrameTestCase(SupersetTestCase):
         cursor_descr = (("a", "string"), ("a", "string"))
         cdf = SupersetDataFrame(data, cursor_descr, BaseEngineSpec)
         self.assertListEqual(cdf.column_names, ["a", "a__1"])
+
+    def test_int64_with_missing_data(self):
+        data = [(None,), (1239162456494753670,), (None,), (None,), (None,), (None,)]
+        cursor_descr = [("user_id", "bigint", None, None, None, None, True)]
+
+        # the base engine spec does not provide a dtype based on the cursor
+        # description, so the column is inferred as float64 because of the
+        # missing data
+        cdf = SupersetDataFrame(data, cursor_descr, BaseEngineSpec)
+        np.testing.assert_array_equal(
+            cdf.raw_df.values.tolist(),
+            [[np.nan], [1.2391624564947538e18], [np.nan], [np.nan], [np.nan], [np.nan]],
+        )
+
+        # currently only Presto provides a dtype based on the cursor description
+        cdf = SupersetDataFrame(data, cursor_descr, PrestoEngineSpec)
+        np.testing.assert_array_equal(
+            cdf.raw_df.values.tolist(),
+            [[np.nan], [1239162456494753670], [np.nan], [np.nan], [np.nan], [np.nan]],
+        )