Orlando Figes (London, 1959) is a British historian, nationalized as a German citizen since 2017.

He is Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London.

He graduated from the University of Cambridge where he was Professor of History and a Fellow of Trinity College from 1984 to 1999.

His research covers many different aspects of the history of Russia, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe. His main publications are on the history of the Russian revolution, the Soviet regime and the cultural history of Russia since 1700.

He is the author of numerous books on the history of Russia, including A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891-1924 (The Tragedy of a People: The Russian Revolution, 1891-1924), which in 1997 received the Wolfson Prize, the NCR Book Award, the WH Smith Literary Award, the Longman / History Today Book Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Award.

Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia (2002) was selected for the Samuel Johnson Award and the Duff Cooper Award. Another more recent one is The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia (2007). His books have been translated into fifteen languages.

He is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books.

He has been a member of the Royal Society of Literature since 2003.