Dwyer was the oldest of five children, three sons and two daughters, born into an Irish Catholic family in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada, on 22 March 1975,[1][2] Her father died at the age of 38.

Dwyer attended theatre school for one year and then began studying with David Rotenberg's on-camera acting class also in Toronto and later John Riven's Meisner.

[citation needed] In 1999 Dwyer starred as the 19-year-old Maggie in the lesbian-themed film Better Than Chocolate, winning the role over hundreds of others who auditioned in a cross Canada search.

[citation needed] Also that year, Dwyer played Summer Falls in the bigger budget studio film Superstar, with Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell and produced by Lorne Michaels.

In 2005, Dwyer reunited with her Better Than Chocolate director Anne Wheeler, guest starring in the awarding winning Canadian series This Is Wonderland.

True to her roots, Dwyer returned to Newfoundland and Labrador, where she studied filmmaking at NIFCO, guest starred on Republic of Doyle, and shared her talent at For the Love of Learning, Inc, a not-for-profit empowerment and creativity-based learning program, teaching theatre to Newfoundland and Labrador's youth to use their creativity to overcome social and / or economic obstacles.