Before she was famous: Lingerie-clad Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o juggled two men in sexually-charged Kenyan soap opera

Her exotic beauty and heart-wrenching portrayal of tormented slave Patsey in 12 Years a Slave catapulted her into stardom.

But five years ago, Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o starred in Shuga, a sexually-charged MTV Base Africa soap opera in which she juggled two men.
In the three-part first season, the 31-year-old actress played ambitious go-getter Ayira, who sleeps with her boss at Maverick Advertising.
‘You got what you wanted, right? Now it’s my turn,’ wealthy Felix said, kissing Ayira over a conference table.
‘Do you have rubbers?’ Ayira asked.
‘Are you sleeping with anyone else?’ Felix asked and when she said no he added: ‘Then there’s no problem, is there?’
The show’s numerous steamy sex scenes proved a great way to raise HIV/AIDS awareness, and by the third part Ayira discovers she might have contracted the deadly disease.
In a previous encounter with her older boss, the flawless It Girl straddles his lap in little more than a black lacy bra before his daughter interrupts the frisky pair.
Lupita’s college student character is often in various states of undress throughout the series.
Even a serene shower sequence gets transformed into a love scene when her boyfriend Ty unexpectedly joins her from behind.
Between school, a waitress job, a boyfriend, and supporting her mother – Nyong’o is literally rushing from scene to scene, even in her panties.

Shuga turned out to be a hit – airing in 40 different African countries before eventually airing internationally on 70 TV stations.
‘I think one thing [Shuga] is trying to do is talk about how HIV and AIDS is not a death sentence,’ Lupita told CNN in 2010.
‘[HIV] is a condition that can be managed, if one chooses to do so, if one catches it early on you can live a healthy life with HIV. I’ve been able to be an ambassador for HIV and AIDS.’
After wrapping, the entire Shuga cast even made a pact to all get tested for HIV together.
The Miu Miu model – who used to have a labret piercing – got a shout-out from MTV Shuga’s Twitter page after she began sweeping awards season.
The Yale School of Drama graduate – who shaved her head at 19 – was born in Mexico, raised in Kenya, and now resides in Brooklyn.
Lupita can currently be seen as flight attendant Gwen in the action flick Non-Stop with Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, and Michelle Dockery.