I just copied and pasted a section of a pdf into an Encore menu being edited in Photoshop. I get the same result whether I put it into a new layer by insertion point or text box. I have no problem editing it, including changing the font.

I won't say it looks great, but passable.

The screenshot you are posting is too wide for us to see it well. Just show the image in photoshop with the layers twirled open.

To do columns for this purpose, just use two text boxes side by side. but I would present one column at a time, with a "more" button at the bottom.

pasted text from a pdf document. It came in exactly as laid out in the pdf,

I still think this means it is an image pdf, not text/editable. Top maximize your chances, copy only one paragraph from the pdf at a time. Do  not span a column.

The quality is suffering because you have so much text you cannot get a decent size. That's a 10pt size in a compressed font, and it runs into the safe areas at that.

I would put in one paragraph, and run the test through to a disk viewed on a player on a TV. I understand why you might want columns and the look this had in an actual document, but I don't think it is going to look good on a TV. If you can't get one paragraph acceptable, you'll never like more and/or 2 columns.

The more common issue with text is in titles. Even there (with very little text), font style and size can create problems.

I would create a test DVD with several menus, and the same paragraph on each, in different sizes, and educate the client as to what the problem is: DVD is 720x480 (ntsc), and that is all the resolution you have for whatever amount of text is on each page. Help them find a font size (and ultimately font also) that will work.

Personally, I would find multiple menus better than scrolling video where I cannot control the rate.

You could also do this as a slide show, but I think you'd see the same issues.

A creative touch that might meet the client's underlying needs would be a transition video for the "View Bio" button (linked to the first menu of the information).  The transition would be a full view of 2 column page 1, then zoom in to one menu's worth.