Janjigian developed an interest for bobsledding after meeting Greek Olympic bobsledder John-Andrew Kambanis at a mutual friend's wedding and attending the Olympic Bobsledding School in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He, along with Yorgo Alexandrou, competed in the two-man bobsleigh event at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah for Armenia. Originally, Janjigian's brakeman was going to be Ara Bezdjian, but he had to be replaced due to a back injury. He then recruited a weightlifting champion from Armenia, but his visa application was cancelled in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Despite both being American citizens and Alexandrou being of Greek descent rather than of Armenian descent, they were granted Armenian residency in order to be eligible to participate. They notably practiced on the streets of San Jose, California on a bobsled fitted with wheels, reminiscent of the famous Jamaican bobsledding team at the 1988 Winter Olympics. This was due to the lack of a proper venue that was available for them to train in as well as financial constraints. They finished in 5th place in the qualifying rounds, only qualifying in their last run. Despite garnering media attention nationally, Janjigian and Alexandrou finished 33rd in the actual event.
Acting career
After the Olympics, Janjigian took up a career in acting. His most notable work is that of portraying the violent drug dealer Chris-R in the 2003 cult film The Room. His debut acting role, Janjigian was the roommate of the actor originally cast to play Mark, a man only identified as Dan, who suggested him despite the suggestion by Wiseau to cast Scott Holmes, who had already portrayed the character Mike within the film, to play Chris-R with a disguise. His other works include the Seth Landau film Take Out, as well as a mockumentary about the current whereabouts of actors from The Room, The Room Actors: Where Are They Now?, directed by Robyn Paris, who also was in The Room. He also appeared in a 2013 episode of Wheel of Fortune. In the 2017 movie adaptation of The Disaster Artist, a book by Sestero about the making of The Room, Janjigian is portrayed by Zac Efron.
Janjigian is currently a sales and management consultant and lives in Leander, Texas with his wife and three children. He is also the owner of a number of restaurants in Austin and Hollywood. He speaks fluent Armenian and holds dual citizenship in Armenia and the United States. He authored sections of the 2015 Jack Canfield book The Soul of Success Volume 2.
