 His family emigrated to Puerto Rico during the François Duvalier regime, while he was a child.Duval-Carrié studied at the Université de Montréal and McGill University in Canada before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola College, Montréal in 1978.He later attended the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, from 1988 to 1989.