Biography

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Tessa Maurer grew up walking distance from the old Toluca Lake home of her great-grandfather Moe Howard of The Three Stooges. Despite being surrounded by film and TV her whole life, her path into the industry wasn’t linear.

After a legal battle in the mid-1990s when Tessa was only two (shockingly, she was not to blame), the Howard family lost controlling rights to The Three Stooges legacy. Combined with watching the highs and lows of her father, screenwriter Michael Maurer whose career was as prolific as it was inconsistent, Tessa’s Hollywood skepticism started young.

But her natural aptitude for telling stories was apparent, as were her skills in drawing and photography. At age thirteen she decided to become a novelist, which led to the penning of seven books and a career as a writer and editor. Despite her industry misgivings, she loved working behind the scenes with her dad as a story consultant, which she did from a teenager until his unexpected passing in December 2025.

It wasn’t until 2020 when her close friend Dylan Falcon asked her to collaborate on developing a TV show that she (to the great relief of her father) finally stopped being in denial of what she wanted and made the shift toward film and TV. The duo has since developed several projects together alongside Tessa’s own properties, some of which she has adapted from her unpublished books.

Then in 2025, Tessa received a Facebook message from then "Stooge Ambassador" and multi-talented artist Andrew Pagana, who turned out to be close with her extended family. At his devising, she met up with Brad Server the grandson of Curly Howard and Chandler Isaac the great-granddaughter of Shemp Howard for the first time over lunch. After sharing a photo of the Stooge family reunion on Facebook, the Howard cousins went viral, garnering over 10 million views, and were featured on People and E! Online.

It was a surreal and moving experience as thousands upon thousands of fans rejoiced and reminisced over the reunion. Tessa has since made it her mission to stay connected to the fans and carry on her family’s legacy, while attempting to build a career centered on smart original stories, discovering and opening doors for new talent, and supporting the Los Angeles film scene. As she likes to say, success is the best revenge.

Tessa’s debut short film as writer and director, Friends Aren't Forever, follows a lonely demon who can’t feel human pleasures. That is, until he meets the one human he can truly connect with, but pleasure never comes without a price... The supernatural drama is set against the backdrop of the LA underground music scene where Tessa was a photographer. It will be filmed in Los Angeles in 2026. The short will also serve as a proof of concept for both an expanded story as well as other developed properties.
- IMDb mini biography by: Friends Aren't Forever Team