His great grandmother introduced him to shows such as Donahue, Sally Jesse Raphael, The Bold and the Beautiful, and Guiding Light. Linzy was fascinated by his great-grandmother’s viewership of soap operas, even after the loss of her hearing. He was particularly intrigued by the ability of gesture to transcend beyond language.

In high school, a media teacher taught Linzy how to edit his videos. His curiosity toward filmmaking translated into his time at the University of South Florida, from where he graduated with a BFA in 2000. There, he created videos toying with elements of race, language, queerness, and kinship. Continuing at the University of South Florida as a MFA student in studio art, Linzy developed various personas for his cinematic oeuvre, often dressing in drag and overlaying voiceovers and adding soundscapes into the video works. His work from this time was informed by movies featuring actors Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, as well as self-portraits by artists such as Cindy Sherman and Carrie Mae Weems. Linzy attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2002.

Kalup Linzy: If It Don’t Fit, Linzy’s first museum survey, was held at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 2009. His work has been featured in group exhibitions at the Studio Museum, such as African Queen (2005) and Frequency (2005). His work was first acquired by the Studio Museum in 2009.