Abigail Fierce Charts Her Own Path in Acting and Independent Music

The entertainment industry is packed with double threats—artists who shine on screen and thrive playing music on stage. Jennifer Lopez, Demi Lovato, Hailee Steinfeld, and Zendaya have all achieved crossover success in both mediums.

Abigail Killmeier, aka Abigail Fierce, is following a similar blueprint, and she is thriving by appearing in NBC’s This Is Us, Hulu’s Love, Victor and Netflix’s American Vandal, and has achieved over 5.9 million streams on Spotify as an independent singer-songwriter.

Moving from Kentucky to Los Angeles full-time when she was 13, Fierce was already beginning to harness her skills as she started playing ukulele and guitar. But her main focus was acting as she reflects on when she landed one of her first big television roles by appearing in the ABC show, American Housewife.

“And that was my first time on, like, network television,” says Fierce. “So that was, like, a big step for me. And then I was in a couple episodes of American Vandal on Netflix. And that was, like, the first time I was in multiple episodes of streaming. But I would say my biggest break with acting would be Love, Victor on Hulu. My character got left at the dance for another girl. She finally got the courage to ask her crush to go, and then he left her there for another girl. So I had a lot of people reach out to me and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I related to your character so much,’ and people drew fan art. And it was definitely like the most surreal experience.”

Fierce’s credits range from web series and short films to a supporting role with Kelly Rowland and Omari Hardwick in the 2022 movie Fantasy Football. Her persistence paid off this year with SkillHouse, a horror satire produced by 50 Cent that premiered in theaters on July 11. Fierce says the project marks the culmination of years of hard work.

“But yeah, being able to see it in theaters was definitely surreal,” says Fierce. “That I’ve been in the business, 10 years. And that’s a moment I’ve been waiting for and dreamed of. And my 92-year-old grandma and my 93-year-old grandpa got to see it in theaters, too. So that’s something I’ll always cherish because my other set of grandparents, they were around when I first came out to LA, but they’re not around anymore. And so it’s just, I’m glad that one set of them got to see something.”

But her success in acting is only one part of Fierce’s dream, as music has always been a focus of hers. After starting to learn the ukulele and the guitar when she was a teenager, she received a suggestion to pursue publishing music on her own without the backing of a music label.

“I guess I was 14; I started teaching myself guitar, and I would start writing songs every night,” says Fierce. “And it just became something I loved, and over time I would write these songs, and I would play them for my mom or a friend here and there, and eventually I had a friend say to me, ‘So when’s the EP coming out?’ ‘And I’m like, what?’ I didn’t know that I could do that independently, like without a label. I thought you would have to be like on a major label. So that kind of gave me the kick in the butt to like, you know, go out, and I started trying to record.”

A negative experience with a music producer changed her approach to creating her songs and empowered her to take complete control over the creative process.

“I actually had an experience with someone who claimed to be a producer, and they kind of took my song and produced it and changed all the chords in it,” Fierce says. “And yeah, didn’t tell me what they were doing, kind of a little scammy. And it just didn’t sound at all like my song. It didn’t sound like what I wanted. So I kind of walked away from that, and I mean, not kind of, I definitely walked away from that, and no one will ever hear that song. And because of that, I kind of sought out a studio that I could work with, use their equipment, and have them mix and master the track, but where I could play all the instruments on my track, and I could have creative control over it. And that’s what I did, and throughout, you can kind of see if you listen to the 10 songs released currently, if you listen to each of the tracks in order of how they came out, you could tell that I learned much more as I go about production, and I’m proud of that.”

Unlike many artists who rely on outside help, Fierce does it all. She plays every instrument, shoots her own music videos with her mom, and designs her album art. Her work ethic is paying off—after sending nearly 2,000 emails a year, her music is now spinning on 100 stations across North America, including college radio and community stations. On Spotify, her songs get close to 23,000 streams per month, with her music has been featured in Girls’ Life Magazine (the leading publication for teen girls) and Wonderland Magazine, an international music publication, as well as many other press outlets.

Representing the LGBTQ+ community through her music has been a gratifying process for the artist, as Fierce couldn’t find examples of queer representation in the songs she was listening to when she was younger.

“So, queer music was not as prevalent as it is now,” says Fierce. “When I was growing up, I think I was 18 by the time that I found ‘Girl in Red.’ And it was really cool to hear a girl sing to another girl like that. And she gave me the confidence to release my songs and sing them as myself.”

Surrounded by the guitars in her apartment, it’s easy to see how the creation of music fuels many aspects of Fierce’s life. She explains the process of creating a song from the beginning of introducing personal feelings during writing the song to recording the track in the studio makes her feel worthwhile that her fans can connect to her music.

“And one lady commented, ‘I clicked on this by accident on YouTube, and I think it was sent to me by God because I just lost my husband, and this is like exactly what I needed to hear today,’” says Fierce. “And things like that are just insane. Or, like, people who say, scream into the whole world; help them come out to their parents. It’s just crazy that, you know, something that I just wrote all by myself in my little apartment here, and then put out into the world, and then it becomes other people’s song instead of mine. And that’s really special. And that’s a really fun part of it.”

Even though Fierce has achieved many goals in music and acting, she feels she has a lot more goals to accomplish, including playing guitar on tour as she auditions to play guitar for musician King Princess.

“There are too numerous and embarrassing to list,” says Fierce. “But I am kind of just playing it with the ear, like with acting, you know, you kind of just take the opportunities that come. I’m, you know, not big enough that I get to pick and choose what roles I would like. I’d love to start a coming-of-age movie. I’d love to book a series regular on a TV show. I want to release music forever. And I hope I love it forever.”

Balancing acting and music and accomplishing success in both proves Fierce is a star on the rise as she builds her career based on her own terms. Her latest single, “14 Cigarettes,” which is described as “Taylor Swift meets Courtney Love” is available now on Spotify.

Photo Credit: Matt Johnson