His mother Christa Schuenke is a philosopher and award-winning literary translator; his foster father Maik Hamburger was a well-known Shakespeare scholar and dramaturge.

Silber has collaborated on numerous films, including the award-winning Good Bye, Lenin!, North Face,[4] Arranged and My Last Day Without You, for which he also co-wrote several songs performed by Nicole Beharie.

He also established himself in the family entertainment market with his feature film scripts for the highly successful Enid Blyton-based Hanni & Nanni franchise.

[5] Based in Los Angeles since 2012, Silber has been honoured by the Vilcek Foundation as "an immigrant filmmaker...whose creative spirit enlivens and inspires American cinema.

[8] He reflected on his family's grief journey in his children's book The Cloud In Our House (Die Wolke Unterm Dach), which was released in Germany in 2022.