Nicolas Silberg, whose real name is Gérard Fruneau, was appointed at the Comédie-Française as a pensionnaire on September 1, 1970 and became its 459th sociétaire on January 1, 1976. In 2003, he was named a sociétaire honoraire.
Nicolas Silberg trained at the Nantes Conservatory between 1964 and 1967, then at the Conservatoire national d’art dramatique (National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts) of Paris between 1967 and 1970 in the classes of René Simon, Robert Manuel and Louis Seigner.
He was awarded a second prize in tragedy for his performance and his interpretation of the role of Augustus in Corneille’s Cinna, a second prize in modern comedy for Graham Green’s The Power and the Glory, and a First Accessit (first prize) in classic comedy for Don Salluste in Victor Hugo’s Ruy Blas.
As a tragedian, he performed the roles of Titus in Bérénice and Pyladesin Andromache, Hydaspes in Esther, Azarias in Athalie as well as that of Narcissus in Britannicus. His keenness for comedy led him to perform amusing characters such as the roles of Gustave and the rescuer of the Alma Bridge in Giraudoux’s The Madwoman of Chaillot, of the comte d’Albafiorita in Goldoni’s La Locandiera (The Mistress of the Inn), of Villedamour in Feydeau’s Hortense Says “I Don’t Give a Damn!”, of Ferdinand Martin in Labiche’s Le Prix Martin (The Martin Prize), of the Prince in Feydeau’s Occupe-toi d’Amélie. He has ease in changing parts and has been very famous in a host of fields, such as tragedy, comedy, romantic drama, and twentieth century repertoire. Among his notable roles at the Comédie-Française, we can name Titus in Racine’s Bérénice, Rogojine in Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot, Bassov in Gorky’s Summerfolk, and Don Carlos in Victor Hugo’s Hernani.
Nicolas Silberg has also starred in many movies for TV and cinema, notably in Drugstore Romance and At the Top of the Stairs both directed by Paul Vecchiali and released in 1979 and 1983 respectively, Mesrine directed by André Génovès (1984), and Notre mariage directed by Valéria Sarmiento (1984). He performed numerous roles in TV movies, most notably his performance in La Dame de Monsereau, D’Artagnan amoureux, both directed by Yannick Andréi and released in 1971 and 1977 respectively, and in Aurélien directed by Michel Favart and released in 1978. Under the name of Gérard Fruneau, Nicolas Silberg presented his paintings during an exhibition at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier from September 2008 until January 2009.
Nicolas Silberg was conferred the title of Chevalier (Knight) of Arts and Letters and the title of Knight in the National Order of Merit.