Born in 1954, Henry Laurens attended primary and secondary school in Paris. From 1973 to 1976, he attended the literary preparatory classes at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, and began studying Arabic that same year. In 1977-1978, he did his national service in the Middle East. In 1979, he obtained the Diplôme d'études avancées (DEA) at Paris-Sorbonne, the agrégation d'histoire the following year, and in 1981 the ^IIIe cycle thesis and diploma from Inalco in literal Arabic.

In 1981-1982, he received a scholarship to the Institute of Arab Studies in Damascus, and taught at Cairo University in 1982-1983. From 1983 to 1990, he was agrégé and assistant professor of contemporary history at the University of Paris-Sorbonne. In 1989, he defended his doctoral thesis. In 1990, he became a lecturer at Paris-Sorbonne, and in 1991 a professor at Inalco.

From September 2001 to 2003, he was successively Director of the Center for Studies and Research on the Contemporary Middle East (CERMOC) in Beirut, then Scientific Director of the Institut français du Proche-Orient.

In 2003, he was appointed to the Contemporary History of the Arab World chair at the Collège de France.