Early life Janjigian was born on April 30, 1972, in
Chicago,
Illinois. His ancestors, ethnic
Armenians from
Samsun and
Trabzon in modern-day
Turkey, survived the
Armenian genocide and subsequently emigrated to the United States. He was raised in
Saratoga, California, his parents running an Armenian restaurant in nearby
Sunnyvale. He graduated from
Saratoga High School in 1991, later graduating with a degree in business administration from
California Polytechnic State University in
San Luis Obispo in 1996. After graduating, he worked at
Microsoft for a number of years. 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. They notably practiced on the streets of
San Jose, California, on a bobsled fitted with wheels, which commentators noted was 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.
Acting career After the Olympics, Janjigian moved to
Los Angeles and began a career in acting. He was suggested 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 so as to distinguish him from his original character. His other works include the
Seth Landau film
Take Out, as well as a
mockumentary about the whereabouts of actors from
The Room 15 years after the film's release,
The Room Actors: Where Are They Now?, directed by Robyn Paris, who played Michelle in
The Room. He also appeared in a 2013 episode of
Wheel of Fortune, coming in third in that episode. In the
2017 movie adaptation of
The Disaster Artist, a book by fellow actor
Greg Sestero about the making of
The Room, Janjigian is portrayed by
Zac Efron.
Political career In September 2019, Janjigian filed to run as a
Democrat for the
U.S. House of Representatives in the
2020 election. He was campaigning to be the Democratic nominee against
Republican incumbent
John Carter to represent the
31st district, based in the
Austin metro area. His campaign material often referenced both his career as a bobsledder and as an actor. ==Personal life==