Dzhigarkhanyan was awarded the Armenian Republican State Prize in 1975 for "Triangle" and again in 1979 for "Snow in Mourning." He was named People's Artist of the Soviet Union in 1985. Dzhigarkhanyan began his acting career in 1955 at the Russian Stanislavsky Theater in Yerevan, and in 1967 moved to the Lenkom Theater in Moscow. In 1969 he joined the Mayakovsky Academic Theater. Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Dzigarkhanyan worked as assistant cameraman at Armenfilm studios in 1953-1954.