The man charged with assaulting actor Steve Buscemi on a New York street has been held in jail on a $75,000 bond, prosecutors say.

Police have said the 66-year-old actor – known for his roles in Boardwalk Empire and Fargo, among other performances – was walking in Manhattan on May 8 when a stranger punched him in the face.

A man was arrested last Friday (local time) in connection with the assault, three days after police released a photo of the suspect.

Buscemi’s publisher has confirmed the attack. They said the actor was treated at a hospital with injuries to his eye but was otherwise OK.

The accused man, 50, was arraigned on Saturday and the judge set bail at $US50,000 ($74,695), prosecutors said.

It was unclear if the defendant had a lawyer who could speak for him. He is due back in court on Thursday.

The criminal complaint alleges the man punched two people at the time, but authorities did not name them. It also says the attack on Buscemi was captured by surveillance video.

Buscemi is a popular figure in his native New York.

He was once one of the city’s firefighters and famously rushed to the site of the World Trade Centre after the September 11 attacks to join his former fire company.

In March, Buscemi’s Boardwalk Empire co-star Michael Stuhlbarg was attacked, by a different stranger.

The person allegedly hit him in the back of the neck with a rock in Manhattan’s Central Park.

Stuhlbarg chased his attacker, reportedly into the hands of police stationed outside the Russian Consulate.

The man was taken into custody.

-with AAP