A suspect package similar to those sent to senior public figures has been sent to a New York restaurant owned by the actor Robert De Niro, BBC reported quoting the FBI.

The device was found at the Tribeca Grill in Manhattan early on Thursday local time, said the city's mayor.

Former Vice-President Joe Biden has also received two suspect packages.

The latest incident marks the ninth perceived critic of President Donald Trump to receive such a package this week.

De Niro - the star of films Raging Bull and Meet the Parents - is a vocal Trump opponent, and once called him "a national disaster".

The New York Police Department said the restaurant building - which also houses his production company TriBeCa Films - was empty at the time the suspicious device arrived, NBC reports.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio praised the "really quick witted work of a security guard" who alerted authorities to the suspected device.