Silverton was born in Essex, England, the daughter of English parents; Terry Silverton, a black-cab driver turned registered hypnotherapist and Patricia Silverton, who now heads her daughter's company. Silverton has two sisters, Claire and Amy. Silverton attended West Hatch High School in Chigwell, Essex, where she was a champion swimmer and started to compete in the triathlon. She was a Girl Guide and gained the Queen's Guide Award.She spent a year studying Arabic and Middle Eastern politics before switching and has a BSc in Psychology from the University of Durham where she attended St. Cuthbert's Society..

Silverton worked for a London-based bank before becoming a journalist. She trained with the BBC working on Look North news before becoming a reporter and presenter at Tyne Tees Television.

She was a panellist on Five's The Wright Stuff, The Heaven and Earth Show, Big Strong Boys and Weekend Breakfast on BBC Radio 5 Live, before joining BBC News.

From 2005 until December 2007 she was the 8.30-11am presenter on BBC News 24 along with colleague Simon McCoy, although she was frequently absent as she was also a regular relief presenter for BBC Breakfast, presenting during some of Sian Williams's maternity leave.

In December 2007, Silverton was named as the presenter of the 8pm News summary - a 90-second round up of the news shown on BBC One, which she presented for two months. She presented the BBC News at One from February to August 2008, whilst main presenter Sophie Raworth was on maternity leave. In January 2009, Silverton began to present the BBC Weekend News Late Bulletin as a regular presenter. From Monday 23 February 2009, Silverton presented BBC Breakfast with Bill Turnbull, again covering for Sian Williams's maternity leave which finished on 31 August 2009.

During September 2009 she presented and reported for BBC News from Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan. She is now the deputy presenter of the BBC News at One, presenting on Mondays and when main presenter Sophie Raworth can't. This role was previously held by Louise Minchin.

On 1 April 2008, alongside the historian Dan Snow, she presented live coverage of the celebrations held at RAF Fairford for the 90th Birthday of the Royal Air Force. On 24 August 2008, Silverton presented live coverage of the celebrations of London becoming the 2012 Olympics host city, from The Mall. She presented New Year Live aboard HMS Belfast in London on 31 December 2008 on BBC1 with Nick Knowles.

In October 2008, she presented Big Cat Live for BBC One in October 2008.

Silverton has also appeared as a mentor in the BBC2 series The Speaker in April 2009 offering her advice on good story telling and public speaking.

In May 2009 Silverton presented a documentary called 10 Things You Need to Know About Sleep which looked at different ways to deal with insomnia.