Abanes began his career as a professional singer, dancer, and actor (with Screen Actors Guild and Actors Equity Association) in local theater (Rockford, Illinois) at the age of thirteen. He began doing semi-professional theater within a year, and during his high school years he was featured in many productions throughout Northern Illinois including West Side Story, Fiddler On the Roof, and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. He also became a featured dancer in the Rockford Dance Company, while simultaneously studying dance in Chicago with professional companies such as The Hubbard Street Dancers and Joel Hall Studios.

After graduating, Abanes moved to Nashville, where he worked as a featured performer at Opryland U.S.A. (eventually starring as George M. Cohan in the long-running musical show For Me and My Gal). During the next two years, he also appeared as a dancer in several Nashville-based TV specials such as "Merry Christmas from the Grand Ole Opry". He was also a featured dancer for the weekly NBC variety series Nashville Palace.

Abanes subsequently moved to New York, where he landed a role in the "International" and "Bus & Truck" companies of the original Broadway hit musical A Chorus Line, which became the longest running Broadway show of all time later that decade. Soon afterward, Abanes was given a featured dance role on Broadway in the musical Dreamgirls. In the years that followed, Abanes was featured in national television commercials such as Canada Dry, Wendy's, and Nissan. He also played the lead role in an ABC Afterschool Special, co-starred in the film Rappin', and starred in the Bill Moyers PBS special titled "The Constitution." While in New York, he continued his studies in dance with American Dance Machine, Alvin Ailey Dance Center, American Ballet Theater, Luigi's Jazz Center, Rick Atwell, and Ann Reinking.

Abanes eventually began to pursue a second career as a full-time freelance journalist. This led to his first book, Prophets of the Apocalypse: David Koresh and Other American Messiahs, which was co-authored with three other writers and published in 1994 (Baker Books).

As of 2009, in addition to being an active author/journalist, Abanes was again working in field of show business as a singer, dancer, and actor.

In July 2010, he performed the role of Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar with Rockford's Bonzi Productions.